DRAGONS DREAM TIO # 197 - The Number Five

So then..... Number Five... There have been so many great takes on this theme already over at Dragons Dream that I really had to wrack my brain (cell!?) to come up with an idea. I rummaged around in my scrap box for a bit and this fairly clean and simple design is what I came up with using a well known phrase.

Yup, it's Five O'clock Shadow... I did kinda spell it right out didn't I :oD

Lx

DRAGONS DREAM TIO #196 - The Number Eight

Ooooh! Just squeaked in this time around, but I do LOVE the challenge over at Dragon's Dream. I like to have a good think about what I want to do and I've been dying to get this Time Traveller set by Tim Holtz inky SO....

Here is my No 8

...and, after a bit of a dry spell as far as colouring in goes, I coloured in my very dapper traveller with my Copics. I usually love nothing more than fussing over my colouring but I was up against it today and had to rush a bit. That said, I still think he turned out okay, which is more a tribute to the lovely stamp than it is to my colouring...

Anyhoo, hope you like it.

Lx

DRAGONS DREAM TIO #195 - No 1

It's been a busy couple of weeks so I was disappointed to time out on last week's Dragon's Dream Tag It On Challenge :o(  This week, however, I'm getting my tag in nice and early.

I couldn't resist a bit of fun with this one so I dug out one of my favourite PaperArtsy stamps - the fabulous bus - and got to work with a quote from one of my favourite films. It made me smile and I hope it makes you smile too.

Check out the lovely stencilled herringbone bricks.

It's one from a new range of great mini-stencils at That's Crafty (my fab local craft emporium). I believe they are being released this month. I'm already addicted :oD  They're the perfect size for tags and ATC's

Lx

DRAGONS DREAM TAG IT ON CHALLENGE #192 - PURPLE AND CIRCLES

I was so pleased to be asked by Catherine if I would be a guest designer for her challenge at Dragons Dream Tag It On, which is Purple and Circles (here). Thanks Catherine. I really enjoyed it.

As you know, I'm trying to make my tags with what I've got in my scrap box. The challenge is to follow the prompt AND use one real stamp. My starting point with this challenge was actually that I've recently had a birthday and top of my wish list were some beautiful Tim Holtz butterfly stamps, so I was itching to use them. When I found a half piece of gorgeous purple card nestling among my scraps I knew where I wanted to go with it, so it was out with the Purple Concord Distress Ink and I set to work...

Here's what I made

I pondered for a very long time about whether to make the tag in a different colour, wash it with gesso or go for broke and use the same shade of purple throughout. In the end I decided to challenge myself and go for the same colour throughout which would mean I had to make the butterflies stand out on the purple card purely by making the texture and shading work for me. With this in mind, I used a very old Sizzix embossing plate for the tag itself and coloured it with Distress Ink to bring out the texture. Then I stamped the butterflies in black archival ink and clear embossed to accentuate the detail. I used my Prismacolour Pencils to colour the butterflies. I was thinking Purple Emperor butterfly but they're probably not so accurate as I just coloured from (dim) memory. Keen Lepidopterists, please forgive me :oD

Just as the sentiment says, I decided to keep the tag simple. I stuck to a palette of three colours: dark grey, white and, of course, purple. I cut some foliage in dark grey and punched a few simple flowers in plain white card, adding pale green pearls in the centre.

I loved making it; I'm pleased with how it turned out and I hope Catherine will like it too. It would be great if you would visit us and join in the challenge too.


Lx

I would like to enter this tag into the challenges at:

Colouring Crazy Challenge - Pearls and Bling
Polkadoodles Challenge - Girly but no Pink
Simply Create Too - Keep it simple

DRAGONS DREAM TAG IT ON #190 BLACK AND STENCILS

Another great challenge at Dragon's Dream I've had such a lovely time making this tag. I wanted to think of a twist for the stencil part so I decided to use part of the actual stencil on the tag. I'm hoping this constitutes a clever twist on the theme. Here's the stencil I used

and here's the tag

As usual I coloured my image with copics and added detail with my Prismacolour pencils

I used some lovely kraft card from my scrap box, Perl by Stampotique and another great Dylusions sentiment. Couldn't resist adding a bit of hardware in the shape of some cogs and a gorgeous Tim Holtz arrow and I thought the flowers were a nice contrast.

Still plenty of time to enter a tag if you fancy having a go. Why not give it a try.

Lx

DRAGON'S DREAM TAG IT ON #187 - TOFFEE AND LACE

So, Toffee And Lace. How hard could it be...but...I REALLY had to think about this one and I'm not really sure why. I was determined to find an alternative way to include the lace theme as I'm not really a lacey person as a rule. I decided to use a lacey leaf stamp set I've had for ages and I hope that will be okay.

In the end I decided to break out my alcohol inks. I used Butterscotch (for the toffee element), Terracotta and Willow to create a background by splodging them on a glass mat and swiping the tag through the ink. I used what was left on the mat to colour some seam binding. I then stamped an assortment of butterflies in black Archival Ink. Once that was dry I overstamped lacey leaves in gold and then over that I stamped the words Le Papillon and some smaller lacey leaves in white. I really love how it turned out. I edged the tag with black ink and left it at that.

you can see the gold better in this picture

I think I might just about squeak in for this challenge. Must do better next time.

Lx

DRAGONSDREAM TAG IT ON #186 - WHITE AND A NUMBER

Another great challenge over at DragonsDream and I have set myself the additional challenge that I can only use stuff from my scrap box (sooooo many scraps; so little time :oD) so this is what I came up with

The image and sentiment are from a great set by Viva Las Vegas Stamps. The sentiment cracks me up every time I see it. I chose to stamp them onto Kraft card and coloured the image with Prisma Pencils.

I tore around the image to reveal the white core and edged the tag with white paint. I also stamped my sentiment in white and heat embossed it just to tie in the theme a bit more. I hemmed and hawed a bit when it came to adding the number element so I was pleased to find I had a piece of kraft paper with numbers on in my scrap box AND I found this cute staple with the word "Giggles" on it. Seemed appropriate so on it went.

HAD to use a bulldog clip for the top again. I really like that and it seemed to balance the tag as well as tying in with the silver staple quite nicely. Job done. Can't wait to make the next one now. I think I'm hooked.

Lx

Pink, Hearts and MORE PINK....

I've been footling about with a tag for a challenge I spotted on Catherine's blog recently. I love making tags and they're a great way to use up all those little bits and bobs you accumulate AND try out different techniques on a smaller scale. It all started when I found this lovely Stampotique girlie in my stash, long neglected and needing some TLC. Quick as a flash I coloured her in before rummaging through my offcuts to see what I could do to brighten her life a little...

First I needed some layers, so I painted a tag with Orchid Fresco paint by PaperArtsy before layering some dots over the top with texture paste. I've discovered that the paste sucks the colour of the paint up as it dries so I got a gorgeous soft pink colour to offset the darker pink of the paint. Cool!

Next I added a little offcut of pink Coredinations card which I embossed with hearts and then sanded back to reveal the colour. I die cut the word Love in dark pink using a Spellbinders die and added some glossy accents to make it stand out a little more.

More hearts, some twine and some sequins to finish. Not forgetting cupid's arrow, which I painted and glossed for extra oomph! A little bit of glitter on her dress and a tag is born, Ta Dah!

I'm going to enter her into the DragonsDream Tag It on Challenge where the theme is Pink and Hearts

Lx