Fungi Poisoners

Happy All Hallows' Eve Eve all!  The night before Halloween, and we've been having a very eerie week here at Words and Pictures.  Even better, it's Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey - that extra Friday in a month where we all get to play however we want, as long as it's on a tag.  I'm here with some dangerous women, with far too much knowledge about the toxic properties of the fungi they've been gathering in the autumn woods...

They say that poison is a woman's weapon, and I think I'd probably be watching my step if anyone looked at me the way these two women are glaring!

I've been back at the autumn leaves too, experimenting with creating them on several different cardstocks to create even more tonal variations.  I was partly inspired by Tim Holtz's demo last Saturday where he was talking about the new cardstocks becoming available.

I don't have any of those, but I had a play with applying my ink on my usual manila tags, and on some unbranded white and kraft cardstocks.

You definitely get different tonal qualities, and Tim's also right (of course) that the kraft soaks up a lot more ink - though I do also have some which is slightly coated so works differently with the inks.

The backgrounds make me so happy - there's Speckled Egg in there along with some soft blues and greens in the first layer, and then I wanted to create a sort of rusted effect over the top.

Crackling Campfire and Vintage Photo together (mixing and matching Ink and Oxide formulations) make such an amazing rusty glow.  I really adore this effect - it won't be the last time you see it!

I'm so glad I rediscovered my love of Distress Inks when I was in CZ recently (because of having only a limited stash with me).  The ink splotches never fail to make me happy, even when I'm pretty stressed with everything going on... a bit of inky play will sort me out.  I'm making sure I leave myself some to play with until the very last minute of packing!!

But of course the main attractions here are the fungi and the fungi gatherers.

The Field Notes ephemera packs have become absolute necessities round here - and there are elements for spring, summer and autumn.  And the poison labels are some of the ones I hand-stamped the other day (see More Skull Distraction for those).

The fungi come in all shapes and sizes so amongst them I'm sure there are some highly toxic ones.  I always think it's a danger sign for food to be blue!!

And the women from the Ancestors Paper Dolls pack are brilliant.  I love it when a woman refuses to be smiley and happy and amenable just to suit others - there's a strength of character in that which really appeals to me.

These two really do not suffer fools gladly.  I'm not saying that one should immediately reach for the poison cabinet when surrounded by fools, but I can definitely see the temptation at times!

The words are from the Clippings stickers - found text is a wonderful thing, but it definitely helps if someone else has spent the time finding it for you.

I hear it's Paula Cheney who does most of that - grateful thanks, if so!  There always seems to be something that is just right to serve whatever story the Paper Dolls are telling me as I create.

I love where the white card peeks through - it looks as though that leaf is catching the light more than the others.  It's an effect I use quite often... not getting everything covered in ink.

The twiggy bits providing structure underneath were left over from my Rusty Tin by Candlelight altered jars.  It seemed a shame not to make use of them rather than throw them in the bin.

And that's pretty much your lot.  I hope you like this pair of tags... I love the combination of beauty and eerieness, of gorgeous glowing colour with an ominous undertow.  At first glance, you might think oh, how pretty - but then you look closer and realise that things are not as lovely as they might seem!

Do hop over to A Vintage Journey and see what my lovely fellow Creative Guides have been doing with their tags for Tag Friday.  It's always fun to see what happens on that tag-shaped creative space.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you are staying safe, well and creative in these tricky times.  Happy crafting all!

Belladonna, n.: In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.
Ambrose Bierce

I think there's time to squeeze in a couple more tags for All Hallow's Eve over at Tag Tuesday

And at Country View Challenges they should fit in well for Halloween - Make A Scene

I've now got plenty of orange for the Anything Mixed Media with Optional Orange challenge over at  More Mixed Media

#newbloggersucks