Green and Serene

Hello all, and welcome to a serene Sunday here at Words and Pictures.  I have to say, I'm far from serene at the moment - pretty much everything is hotting up on all fronts - so making this tag was truly therapeutic.


It uses Artistic Outpost stamps, mainly from the gorgeous Serenity plate.  It was one of the first AO stamp sets I bought, and I'm still just as in love with it.


It's not the first time I've played with layered tags, but I've seen lots around and about a lot recently.  (Can I find any of them now to share a link with you?  Can I heck!)


In any case, when I started playing with Tim's wrinkle-free distress technique and ended up with enough ink on the mat for two tags (only semi-accidentally), a layered tag was the obvious next step.











I seem to have a real blue-green thing going on in celebration of Spring, and I also find them such soothing colours to work with.

As well as Distress Inks, I used a bit of Bundled Sage re-inker on the mat for a shot of more concentrated colour.











The large tag is then treated very simply - just a stamping of the beautiful homestead image in Olive Archival, and some raggedy edging created with the TH Paper Distresser.








On the regular tag, I added some of the music manuscript from the Ephemera Backgrounds, and embossed the sentiment using Wow Vanilla White powder for a soft look.

At the bottom I trimmed the tag slightly (so as to clear the image beneath) before using the Doily Lace punch from Martha Stewart. 











It wasn't showing up brilliantly against the tag beneath (very similar colours of course), so I used some more embossing powder to highlight the edge.








The final tag uses a brand new die I bought with some recent winnings (I've been on such an amazing roll - never been this lucky in my whole life!). 

I'm not really a Magnolia crafter (though I do find some of the creations jaw-droppingly gorgeous), but this little Vintage Tag from the Magnolia Doohickeys range caught my eye a while back, and I've given in at long last!










For this one, I embossed the flower swirls, in a couple of different colours, and then blended DIs over the top.  

Then I added some more embossing powder to the lacy bit at the bottom to make it pop.








Crinkle Ribbon dyed with Distress Stain, and tied together with some paper ribbon finishes the whole thing off.  

I'm very happy with the layered look, too; for some reason it just makes me happy...













And by the end, I was breathing a little more deeply and, I think, even smiling a bit.  Which is really what this whole crafting business is about, isn't it?!













Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today.  

I hope all the Brits enjoy their Bank Holiday weekend (my nose will be at the Dollshouse Museum grindstone pretty much throughout... altogether now: aahhh!), and that you all have a wonderful week ahead.

The sole art that suits me is that which, rising from unrest, tends toward serenity.
Andre Gide

Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is.
Thomas Szasz


I'd like to enter this for the Inspiration Journal's May challenge Don't Quote Me