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...

Tuesday 29 September 2020

Bold Book Text

Hello all!  I was tempted into attempting another New Blogger blogpost by the lovely theme over at Tag Tuesday this fortnight.  Sandie is looking for tags using Book Print.  Book page fragments are something I use very often, and there are still plenty of tags made while I was still in the Czech Republic (liaising with builders ready for the move) which I haven't shared here yet, so I thought this vibrant pair would fit the bill.

(It seems that if I completely abandon my carefully-honed blog-writing process, which I've developed over eight years of blogging, and which I could do at the drop of a hat, without stress or taking too much time, then I may just be able to get the photos where I want them... so here goes.)





I found myself obsessively creating Distress Ink/Oxide backgrounds while I was away.  It's been a while since I've been so ink-oriented - there's been more paint and mixed media over the last couple of years.

The inky return was, I think, partly because I was working with a limited craft stash, but it's also because Speckled Egg Distress revived my love of combining colours.











Now, there's not much of it on these particular tags, but my goodness those topcoat spatters make a difference to the autumnal browns, golds and purples underneath.















And I didn't want to hide too much of all that bold colourful gorgeousness, so these skeleton leaf stamps of Tim Holtz's were a good choice to let the colours continue to shine through.













The Paper Dolls, as usual, were making their own decisions about who was going to get to play a part in the tag design.  This chap is always very forthright about saying yay or nay.  This time it was yay.














I really love this seated girl, clutching her basket and facing us with barely disguised trepidation.  The book page fragments create the perfect highlighting accent to draw our eye away from the vivid background towards the characters.










He demands evidence for any matters arising - refusing to believe anything but strong physical proof for that which he cannot see with his own eyes.










She has only her basket of collected curiosities and her active imagination to offer in defence of things she feels with all her soul to be possible.









I rather like the little fine twine oval frames too - one for her to perch in and one for him to lean on.


I hope you like them too, and I hope you have a good week ahead of you with some time for yourself and whatever you love somewhere in there.  Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll hope to see you again soon, either here or elsewhere in Craftyblogland.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Carl Sagan

There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.
Sherlock Holmes, courtesy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.
George Carlin

Right, well, the photos are going left and right, but I can't get them to overlap by a few lines as they've always done, so there's a load of bare blank space going begging.  It might not bother you, but to my fastidious design eye it's hideously ugly.  And it takes extra clicks to place them, to resize them, to position them... and I've still had to abandon how I write (text first, flowing, then adding photos once the text is complete) which messes up my train of thought and makes the whole process very unsatisfactory.  New Blogger IHATEYOU #newbloggersucks

Having yelled that, I would like to share this pair of tags at Tag Tuesday for the theme Book Print

26 comments:

My name is Erika. said...

Bold and beautiful ALison. I like these dark fall skies. And the twine(?) circle. Great addition and texture. Have a great new week. Hugs-Erika

Margaret Mifsud said...

Ooohh!! I love these tags Alison. From the bold, beautiful colours of the background to the twine oval frames .. it is all so delicously artsy.
Think I need to find that skeleton leaf stamp .. love it!
I think you're post is fabulous. Perhaps not quite as smooth and flowing as before but, certainly not ugly. Must admit though, it does take extra effort to get a post completed now. Always thought you updated stuff to make it easier but, definitely not the case with Blogger. Have a fabulous week. xx

Helen said...

the tag are beautiful, the colours are wonderful. I have found that my blogger now knows what size I like my photos and automatically add them at the right size.. not sure how, whether it's due to the number (kew posts lol) I add... but at least I don't have to re-size any more. It is a shame you can't write your posts and add the pics like you used to though, I've always done it the other way,write a bit, add pics and write a bit more. I do hope you find a way to make it work for you.

Valerie-Jael said...

Wonderful post, love those tags, and thanks so much for joining us at Tag Tuesday. Your post looks wonderful as always. Things change, and we have to adapt - 'change is the only constant thing in life'. Have a good week, stay safe, hugs, Valerie

craftytrog said...

Love these beauties Alison! Xx

Sandra Wright. said...

Scrummy tags..the background is awesome. I love the placement of the book pages, it draws you to the little people. I love the expression on the girl's face.
Thank you so much for joining in with my theme at Tag Tuesday..x

Cestina said...

I join you in your hate for New Blogger. I thought death and taxes were the only constant in life (and apparently not even taxes if you occupy a certain position). Change is fine but only for the better, not the worse...

On the other hand, it's good to see the left and right placement and fortunately we don't all share your perfect design eye so can enjoy the post as usual....do please keep them coming. I can't control instagram, it's almost as bad as pinterest! xx

Marci said...

Wonderful tags, more colorful than usual, but I love them, especially with the leaf stamps,the TH dolls and twine and book fragments.

Chrissy said...

Stunning colours in your glorious backgrounds Alison, I love the purple peeking through, and the rich oranges then all those splatters, sure do it justice..I also love the embossed leaves, gorgeous tags.

Luv CHRISSYxx

experiments in paper said...

Lovely and vibrant, and as well to see a blog post. I must say I do love your IG work though.... just miss your always wonderful narrative. Blogger has never been my friend, as I have always had spacing issues with photos, and the time sinkl is one reason I more or less gave up on blogging - who has 3 or 4 hours to write something that few people even see (in my case)? At any rate, love these tags, and looking forward to returning to ink myself now! Hope your stay goes smoothly, alobng with packing, etc. Thinking of you - xxx Lynn

Redanne said...

The background colours positively sing Alison, glorious autumn colours and the whole design works beautifully. The fine twine hoops are a lovely touch and really draw the eye in to the delightful little people.

Sorry you are still having issues with blogger.... Anne xx

Christine Alexander said...

wow Alison, such an amazing mix of colours on your backgrounds. the leaf prints allow all this loveliness to shine through :)

Aimeslee Winans said...

Hello, Alyson, now now, there there. My anal retentive perfectionist self completely empathizes, even as my copacetic Type B self advises don't sweat the small stuff, it's not worth the stress. There's people regularly uploading pics to Facebook sideways, so... you know? {winkwink}

Your ink colors are calling my Pisces mermaid soul. So gorgeous. I do prefer the boy but his pose is priceless. It makes the {little} man!

I have one project left to create for the month and you've inspired me to make it a decorative tag for my art corner, so thank you! Hope your week ends super well and stay safe XXO

Neet said...

To be honest I am finding this new blogger to be much the same as the old one now I have come to terms with one or two things. The labelling is the one annoying thing with me, but then it is maybe easier in the long run as i don't have as much scrolling to do.
Anyway, to your tags which I love.
What gorgeous backgrounds. The colours are so rich and rusty and autumnal and everything I like rolled into one. I do like the twine circles you have made, how did you get them so circular? Mine would end up a bit ellipsey (is there such a word? You know what I mean. Guess 'like an ellipse' would have done)
Anyway, I do like, very much.
Hugs, Neet xx

Mrs.B said...

Beautiful Autumnal colour combinations on these tags Alison and I love the twine circle 'props'.
New blogger takes a bit of getting used to - still learning as I kept reverting back up until the end!
Avril xx

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Don't ask how, but I'm still using Legacy. I was on the AJJ site today, and couldn't figure out where to link. Nothing is intuitive there. I'm with you on the new blogger sucking.

However, I totally adore those two tags you created. The inky colors are perfect and the bit of book page, which is very subtle, is enough to draw your eye away from the ink for just the right amount of time. Sorry I'm late visiting. Catching up is very hard to do.

Lagene said...

AWESOME tags, I love the skeleton leaves in the background! I feel your pain about web sites changing their formats!!! I'm having similar problems with wordpress.

aussie aNNie said...

Really gorgeous projects, lovely design and colours used. xx

Sue said...

These are absolutely stunning Alison! I thought they were alcohol ink backgrounds there's so much life in them. I can just about get by on blogger but I still hate it. Maybe I'm just set in my ways but I can't see any improvement at all on the old blogger so why change! I hope your packing is going well, I bet you can't wait to be in and settled. Take care, Sue xx

WendyK said...

Fabulous backgrounds on your gorgeous tags, love them. thank you so much for sharing with us on Tag Tuesday.

Empire of the Cat said...

Love this colour combo, I too have been away from Distress inks and really need to do some soon. I came over to thank you for visiting and commenting on my post for AVJ. I feel your frustration with new blogger and now we have new facebook to contend with! I'm on wordpress so I don't have to deal with new blogger much, but I wondered if as a temp solution, you could copy an old post, drop it into a new blank post, and then just change the text and photos, and that should give you the same layout. Copy from the HTML code not the compose screen, so you get all the code. Drop it into the HTML screen in a blank post and then switch over to compose to make changes? It might help for now anyway. Elle xx

Empire of the Cat said...

Hi Alison, thanks for your comment.
The other option (I was just discussing this with a disgruntled blogger) is to take your data from blogger and move it to wordpress using export/import. May be less frustrating and will still allow you to enjoy blogging Elle xx

Patty O'Malley said...

Love these tags, Alison. The background on each is beautiful.

Kokopelli said...

Those tags are gorgeous! Lovely colors and I adore those skeleton leaf stamps. Have a great day!

Let's Art Journal said...

Wow, the vibrancy of the colours! They remind me of autumn and I love all the details and enjoyed reading about the paper dolls that chose the tags too - gorgeous 😀. I hope you're having a lovely week! Hugs, Jo x

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

Oh Alison, the colors are super, so cosmic, and love the peeps. Good luck with the big move, stressful I know, but since you are getting down the new blogger a little less...lol!