I'm travelling into a new way of working, a new country, a new language, and a new hobby which I'm passionate about. Come with me for some of the journey...

Monday 19 January 2015

A New Leaf




Hello all!


We're sharing a Tag Monday over at A Vintage Journey this week.  I love Tag Monday... an excuse to play with a tag, Tim-style, no pressure, no theme - just me, some inks and some stamping!

And given I'm in full-scale sample-creating mode at the moment it was lovely to take ten minutes out and just play.

Hop over to see what my lovely team-mates have shared, but before you go, here's my contribution.

This is not quite "a new leaf", though it sort of is.  Although I've used most of the stamps in the Daydream plate from last year's releases, I'd never inked up this lovely skeleton leaf before, so it needed to happen.












I started by blending ink directly onto a manila tag, then started layering in some detail with stencils.... first the Bubble and then my favourite Latticework.

I was using Broken China, Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn... though in the end the greens rather took over from the turquoise (which is as it should be for leaves, I suppose).











I used DecoArt Chalk Paint to do my white stamping (a tip from Andy Skinner - if you haven't seen the things I made at his fabulous workshops, I'd love you to check them out).

You can't go wrong with the Papillon script...











I have lots of book page pieces left from carving out my Bell, Book and Candle niche.













They're handy to grab, so that's what I ran through the Trellis Frameworks and added as an extra layer.












Both the quote and the leaf are stamped in Potting Soil Archival.

I needed them to hold their own against the busy layered background, so I did my usual trick of clear embossing them.  It gives that lovely touch of gloss and dimension, as well as intensifying the colour because of the refraction of the light as it hits.












I used a blending tool to add some Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo colour to the leaf very roughly.  I love that you can still see the layers even through the browns.











I added some golden pen nibs, arranging them in strong vertical lines to echo the quote and the leaf.

Well, what else are you going to use to write that gorgeous Papillon script?!










And the ribbons were actually dyed with Fresco paints for one of my samples (hmm... any guesses who the samples are being made for?!  Watch this space), but I ended up not using them for that.











But with a touch of Vintage Photo the ribbons were perfect here, tied with a bit of rustic twine.

I glued the whole tag onto some kraft card and trimmed it to size before attacking it with the distressing tool.








And we're all done.  I love how it warms up as the rays of winter sunshine (between snow showers) hit it.


Do hop over to A Vintage Journey to see the taggy delights created by my wonderful team-mates.  And you've still got time to play along with our current challenge to Use A Portrait on your Tim-style project.  Check out all the details and our Travelling Instructions - we'd love you to join us on the journey.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon.  Now the samples are all done and ready for posting I might even get to come visiting...  Oops, no, tax return first!

I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, as I used to spoil my copy-books; and I make so many beginnings there will never be an end.
Jo March in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women

45 comments:

massofhair said...

Glorious Tag Alison, the colours blended beautifully to create your background. I do LOVE the book paper lattice die cut!

Thank you for the step by step, fabulous inspiration as always:-) xxx

Shilpa Nagaonkar said...

Wonderful tag, Alison. Beautiful background with lattice stencil and DI, loved how you have used trellis, I love them so much but always get confused, where to place them on project :) Brilliant idea to use archival ink and embossing powder to highlight the quote and leaf.

experiments in paper said...

Lovely to see, as always.....and also to see what those recently removed book pages have got up to! Many thanks for the step-outs as you pull this intricate skein of textures, colors and thoughts together into a beautiful piece. xx Lynn

Cinderella Moments said...

It reminds me of Spring! It looks so fresh. Great work!
hugs♥,
Caroline

Terry said...

Love the spring time feeling on your tag! The leaf is so at home an that gorgeous background along with the stenciling. Love the added pen nibs! Hugs!

Helen said...

What a beautiful tag!! Gorgeous blues and greens, almost springlike.. unlike the temperatures outside!

Valerie-Jael said...

Beautiful tag! Valerie

toni said...

Gorgeous tag Alison ! Love the colours with the white stamping in the background x

chrissie said...

Beautiful tag Alison and a sweet quote from Little Women.

Have a great day

Love Chrissie

froebelsternchen said...

WOW.. what an adorable piece Alison.... I am always thrilled with your creations.... fabulous!

Astrid Maclean said...

A fabulous tag Alison, the new leaf has true pride of place, it all looks wonderful!

pearshapedcrafting said...

Beautiful! I love the fresh looking colours that really show up that fabulous skeleton leaf! The edges look great and I'm going to be trying that for sure! Chrisx

Inky and Quirky Designs said...

Stunning tag Alison,the colours are beautiful and I love that little leaf ;)
Big hugs
Donna xxx

Candy C said...

HellO! I apologize for my lack of commenting but that doesn't mean thst I don't visit and see such lovely projects EVERYTIME thst I do. ☺️ This tag is beautiful with all of its layers and colors.

Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries said...

Lovely tag with great details, Alison!
greetings, Alie :-)

Pamellia said...

Wow Alison, this is gorgeous!! I love the stencilling and the bits of lattice die you added here and there! Fabulous colours, what a stunning tag!! hugs :)

Jackie PN said...

One of my very favorite quotes!
Alison I really love the simple and organic feel to this beautiful tag- you never disappoint ,my friend! xo

Kay Wallace said...

Love that you are taking a moment to step back to the very basics of tag making, Alison. I think this is one of the flattest pieces of art I have seen you create in a long time. But, "flat" is definitely not lacking by any stretch of the imagination! You have still achieved depth, detail and dimension! I love both the art here and that spot-on quote! Well done!

Craft Addicts - Tracy Evans said...

Gorgeous tag Alison, love the touches of die cut pieces and the leaf, the colours are delightful too. Hope you are well. Tracy x

Julia Aston said...

What wonderful techniques on your background Alison - love the pieces of the die cut scattered over your tag!

Gaby Bee said...

Your tag looks great, Alison! Love the spring colors. Right now here in Germany it's all gray and rainy all the time. So this post lifts up my spirits!

craftytrog said...

Love your tag Alison, fab design, & that quote is so true! xxx

Dorthe said...

So beautiful tag, -the leafe is so wonderful in brown-dear Alison, and the stamped qoute as well, on the greenish background, with the lovely white stamped schripture. And then it say :spring.
Hugs, Dorthe

hazel said...

A fabulous tag Alison, love the colours and the great quote.
xxx Hazel.

Juliz Design Post said...

Wonderful colours and great photos of steps. Love how you mounted your tag tattering the edges.
Julie x

Meggymay said...

A beautiful tag with a super quote.
Yvonne x

Jools Robertson said...

Love your tag, beautiful colours and patterns
the over stamping in white is very subtle and adds a lovely effect
Beautiful words and the Skeleton leaf is fabulous, amazing detail

Jools x

Redanne said...

It would have taken me hours to do such a beautiful tag - it really is gorgeous. The white stamping looks amazing. Anne xx

Jenny Marples said...

A beautifully layered tag with such a vintage feel Alison. Love it. Jenny x

Jennie Atkinson said...

A wonderful tag Alison - fabulous layers and that gorgeous background using different stencils. Amazing choice and blend of colours (as always!). Jennie x

Nikki Acton said...

Stunning Alison - just love your background with all its depth. Unsurprisingly I adore the colours too! Nikki x

Hazel Agnew said...

I always learn so much and get inspired by your blog Alison. Love the chalk stamping, the idea to emboss areas for added strength and the ribbon is tantalising. As usual a gorgeous piece of art! Thanks x

Julia said...

Great words on a very lovely tag, nice work Alison. x

Unknown said...

Love this tag, Alison!! Love the warm natural tones with the greens and blues and LOVE how you've incorporated your leftover book pages as die cuts!! WONDERFUL!! I have a little box of ripped out book pages myself and you've just brought new life to them :) Lovely tag for Tag Monday at AVJ :) XOXO-Shari

Kirsten said...

Such a gorgeous tag, the skeleton leaf is beautiful & I love the colours. My guess is that you're making samples for PA, perhaps for their stand at Stitches next month???

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

I want some of those gold pen nibs...excellent touch! Gorgeous color and embossing too on this beautiful tag!

Meihsia Liu said...

Love your fabulous tag, Alison. The layers and colors are so beautiful. :)

Cocofolies said...

Sorry for the delay to leave you a comment Alison, I have trouble finding time to visit my favourite blogs this month again! I'm so busy... But well worth seeing this beauty in details at last! Wonderful tag and a great quote, I love this leaf too, it's so well showcased here! Hugs, Coco xx

Silvia(Barnie) said...

That's an amazing tag - fabulous elements.

Annie said...

A beautiful tag and stunning details Alison. The colour combination is great too.

TFS and best wishes
Annie x

House of Bears said...

Wow,stunning as usual. I really love that quote, and the Little Women quote at the bottom of your post. I may have to use both in a journal page.

Princess Judy Palmer said...

I haven't visited in much too long! I see you haven't gone all pink, frilly, and cutesy on me and I thank you for that! Still layering lovely nature bits, combining inks and paints along with this and that, and making breathtaking projects! And of course all your lovely greenery--both on your card and in your photo booth! Awesome as always!

Brenda Brown said...

Beautifully layered inks and wonderful depth to this gorgeous tag, I feel the anticipation of new growth and spring green leaves waiting to burst forth. I love the emotional responses I get from your wonderful art Alison. xxx

Ruth said...

Beautiful colours, layers and 'that' script. The pen nibs look beautiful, just lovely! Ruth xx

Kezzy said...

Wow super awesome layering, I so love the way you do your tags, they are always full of so much to see and always have great layers with added texture. Amazing. Happy Art :-) Kezzy xxx