A Romantic Postcard

Hello all, lovely to have your company - and an especially big welcome to the new followers... so happy you decided to join up!


I'm on to tag 8 of the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas.  Every week, Linda Coughlin (yup, that would be the Funkie Junkie herself) is providing an inspirational tag for us to play with... and if you complete all 12 by the 17th of December you'll be entered in a prize draw, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  All the details are here, and there's still time to play...


Since you can take the inspiration in any direction you like, and since we started way back in September, I've so far avoided linking my 12 Tags of Christmas to Christmas and this one's still on that track.


I love Linda's original but it is very Christmassy!  However, I've done what I think is known as "casing" it, borrowing the layout and techniques, but changing the elements and images themselves.


So I too have a large fabric flower, with mesh ribbon at the foot of the tag.  I have a stamped and embossed figure rising out of that flower, and words at the side of the tag.  I have an ink-blended background, with some additional stamping.  I have some die-cut lace and some ribbon trimming at the top of the tag.  But apart from that, it couldn't really be more different.





I've used the delectable damsel from the Graphic 45 Ladies' Diary stamp set.   I love the slightly coy turn of the head, and knowing smile - what on earth has she just read in that Postcard she's received?!

She's stamped and embossed in Detail Black embossing powder over a background of blended Seedless Preserves, Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs DIs.

I love any kind of text or script, so this stamp with it built in to the background is right up my street.

The Detail embossing powder really helps with an image this detailed... so they named it well!









For someone who is still a slightly reluctant user of flowers on projects, I really enjoyed making this particular flower - and I love how it looks on the finished piece!

It's cut using Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals die, and I layered white mesh from the Funkie Junkie Boutique with some creamy crushed silk type material left over from the wedding transformation I created for my brother and sister-in-law this summer.

The decorative brad in the centre is from BoBunny.



The background is packed with stamps I really love... the Postcard stamp is from Tim Holtz's Postcard collection, while the No Charges and the gorgeous Millinery label both come from the Graphic 45 Ladies' Diary set.

The little sprigs of flowers (Tattered Angels) were something of an afterthought, when I found I needed some stamping to lift the rest of the tag towards the bright cream colours of the fabrics.

And oh, how thrilled I am with the impulse addition of a tiny Versamagic Chalk ink to one of my recent purchases - it's like magic, so deliciously opaque and matte in appearance.  It was exactly what was needed for the sprigs, to lighten the tag.

And at around £1 - £1.50 they feel like you're almost not spending money (yes, yes, I know...)!

I love the glossy embossing next to  the chalky white.

The lace across the top is cut with TH's decorative strip die Vintage Lace...









As with my Bewitching Whites the other day, I had to exert considerable self-restraint in order not to start edging it with Vintage Photo DI - but I wanted to let the creams really stand out against the darker background.





At the top of the tag, I used some leftover mesh to create my 'hanger' strip, and then spent a long time fiddling with some seam binding to get a bow I was happy with.  I added one of my mulberry paper roses as a finishing touch instead of Linda's button.  I love that it tones in so perfectly with the tag background - happy chance!



So I've managed to continue my own personal little 'challenge within a challenge' to play the 12 Tags of Christmas without a sign of Christmas... Of course the last couple will happen within December, so I might just allow some Christmas crafting by then, if I haven't already slipped into it long before!

I hope you've enjoyed today's tag - I'd love to hear what you think.  For now, have a great weekend, and I'll see you soon!

I'm entering this as Tag 8 in the 12 Tags of Christmas over at The Funkie Junkie.  Come and play!!

And with the mesh coming from the Funkie Junkie Boutique, I'd like to add it in to the Sunday Share over at Frilly and Funkie too.

The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post.
George Bernard Shaw

More than kisses, letters mingle souls.
John Donne