I think it's pink!

Hello all, thanks so much for dropping in.  

No, don't adjust your sets - you are at Words and Pictures, and yes, the project is pink - or at least mostly - a tag in a bag.

I was inspired partly by the wonderful Elin at ElinsHobbyKrok, and partly by the amazing Anne Kristine of Anne's Paper Fun, both of whom often make tags in bags - exquisitely.

I decided to have a play, using the Artistic Outpost stamps from Think and Wonder and from the Whimsical Melange, and this is where I ended up. 

Here's the tag in the bag.



















And here are the two together.  

(May have slightly overdone it on the photos today - apologies!) 














I started with a brown paper bag, cut it down in length, and used the Martha Stewart doily lace
punch to trim the top edge.  

This took two goes on two different bags - it wouldn't cut through the folded edges, so I had to open out the second bag, punch, and then glue it back together.









And you'll see it's still (pleasurably) tatty in places... not sure I've really got the hang of punches yet!  

I gave the whole thing a coat of gesso to get a whitewashed look.









I'd inked up the two tags ages ago - if I remember rightly, there's Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, maybe some Worn Lipstick and maybe some Ripe Persimmon involved.  

And I used the torn book page as a mop-up sheet for the spare ink.  I had no idea what I'd be using them for at that point - I was just playing.

I stamped one of the little houses from the Whimsical Melange stamps onto one of the tags and cut it out.








I layered that onto the front of the whitewashed bag over part of the inky book page (also punched with the Doily Lace), with some cheesecloth in between for the shabby, soft texture.















I stamped the Think And Wonder onto another piece of the book page, and used padded tape to
give the words a pop of dimension.













The roses are by Wild Orchid, and they've had a little brush of Picked Raspberry and Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks, as well as splattering of gesso.  

I've also added rough brushstrokes of gesso to all edges and borders.












I gesso'd up a couple of buttons too, and two little wooden ornaments which I think came from Kik (sort of Woolworths/Pound Store affair in the Czech Republic), but are very similar to the Prima embellishments you can now get.

I used a Tonic punch to cut some hearts out of the rest of that first tag as extra embellishments.







And I used some odds and ends of paper lace cut with the Vintage Lace Decorative Strip Die out of some music paper.  

They've been sitting on my table for literally months awaiting their moment in the sun (in fact, I think maybe since my Beautiful Things altered cigar box, which was made in January!).










For the tag inside, I used what's probably still in my top 3 favourite stamps - the amazing little girl from the Think and Wonder plate.  



Unfortunately, once I stamped her on the mottled wrinkle-free distress background in Archival Black (no going back) I realised she looked completely diseased.

So I used some Nougat Fresco paint with a water brush to lighten her face.  

I know that she now looks a little Geisha-like, but I promise you it's better than the lacerations and hideous pock marks she had before!
















I divided up the Wonder and Think sentiment, stamping half at a time...














I like the pause it gives you mid-thought as your eye goes in search of the rest of it.














I added some more pieces of the paper lace, a couple more flowers, buttons and hearts, all gesso'd to within an inch of their lives.  















And there's gesso round the edges of the tag too.








The lovely border was at the top of the book page, over the chapter heading, and was simply too good to waste.  
I think it ties in nicely with the architectural elements of the main stamped image too.







What else but crinkle ribbon to finish us off?  

It's just had a little hint of Picked Raspberry and Ripe Persimmon DIs to tie it in, and then I tied it in multiple bows for an opulent look.












Well, there you have it... another of those makes that pretty much made itself - certainly not something I'd've set out to do when I started!  

But I've ended up being rather pleased with it - I suppose at least partly because it took me by surprise.

I hope you're all having a good week, and thank you - as ever - for your time and your lovely comments.  It means the world to have your company on this journey.  See you out there!

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
Albert Einstein

The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.
Ralph W Sockman








I'd like to enter this in the following:
At the Fashionable Stamping Challenges they'd like to see Script, Books, Pages or Print - my book page got pretty much everywhere
At Live and Love Crafts they're playing Warm or Cool Colours - I've gone Warm, for once
At Bunny Zoe's Crafts the theme is Pink and White
At Anything But A Card they are having some Summer Fun - I've got some sunshine icecream colours for them here