Those who wander...

Hello again, and welcome to the second wandering post today.  It seems a long time since we've had anything which I've made just for fun... Deadlines and DT makes and flattering GD offers pile up, and I'm very grateful for the opportunities, and so happy to be on the teams, but I think one of my New Year's Resolutions is going to have to be about being careful how much I say yes to!



Anyway, I spent much of Thursday and Friday last week trying to bring some order back to my craft room where chaos was taking over.  I finally bit the bullet and chucked out almost two cratefuls of scraps and snippets and half-made tags which have been gathering over the last three years.

Many of the scraps made the move along with us from our old house more than two years ago, and I haven't so much as looked at them in that time.

In the end, I couldn't bring myself to just tip the whole lot in to the paper recycling without sorting through it, and I ended up keeping enough to fill a couple of A4 plastic wallets... so it did still gain me some much needed storage space.

This tag is made from some of the things I fished out.  It was really almost done - it just needed a few additions gathered from some of the leftovers sitting around the craft table.  And I rather like the result.








As I say, most of the main elements of the tag were already in place when I pulled it out of the scraps crate.  It looks like a wrinkle-free distress background to me, with some ink blending, and then there's the stamping of some of my perennial favourites in Jet Black Archival.

I put it straight on to the craft table, knowing I'd want some play time as a "reward" for all the sorting and tidying.

The girl also turned up in the clear-out.  I'm pretty sure she's a Nicecrane Designs image, dating back to when I was working on that design team.  She's printed on acetate, so I'd obviously had some idea for using her which never came in to being.








Now, though, she seems right at home on this tag.  The slightly haunted, yet quietly determined look in her eye seems to reflect the words of the quote printed at the foot of the tag.













Ah yes, those words... so powerful (and I guess I have wandering on the brain a bit at the moment!).













I trimmed her edges a bit before deciding on the precise placement.  And of course the main thing I love about the acetate is it gives her that now-you-see-it, now-you-don't effect which I love about light-reflecting elements.  It's why I so often go for clear embossing - there's something about the tantalising changeability of it which delights me.












Bare branches are a definite theme here this week, as you'll see soon... but I don't think any other versions I have beat this Tim Holtz stamp.  I love those delicate intertwining twigs.











There's my absolute top favourite script stamp in the background - love how you can see it through the girl's skin too - the one from Tim's Apothecary set.














Its spidery antiquity is perfect for the feel of this tag.














The leaves were hanging around as leftovers from another project - you won't see that until later in the week, though, I'm afraid.  They're kraft card with a hint of alphabet stamping on, and some inking to warm them up.

My favourite birds are heading off to wander in search of warmer climes... and I noticed when the sun came out as I was taking photographs that there seems to be a touch of sparkle, probably Perfect Pearls, in the background too.

Of course there had to be rusty wire too...













I added a Big Chat sticker to a little kraft tag and inked over it because the bright white text was a bit too in your face.  I wanted it to be strong, but not that strong!!










So just a quick bit of leftovers playtime, a reward for all the hefting and clearing and gritted-teeth disposal of unneeded clutter.  I hope you like her.

As I say, I'll be back later in the week... in fact, I'll be back several more times!  Sorry, it's just one of those weeks, but I couldn't resist sharing this one with you as soon as she was ready.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope to see you again soon, either here or elsewhere in Craftyblogland.

She was free in her wildness.  She was a wanderess, a drop of free water.  She belonged to no man and to no city.  She knew nothing of borders and cared nothing for rules or customs.  "Time" for her wasn't something to fight against.  Her life flowed clean, with passion, like fresh water.
From The Wanderess by Roman Payne