Springing back into action

Hello all, and a very happy spring and a happy Easter and whatever else you celebrate at this time of year!  I can only apologise for my long absence.  It's been difficult to find the time to create blogposts alongside everything else that has been going on.

There have been turbulent waters along the way, but my floors are finally down, so any day now the unpacking can begin, so it's not going to be any less busy.  But I have found time for a bit of creative play along the way and I wanted to share these spring tags with you.

Spring arrives late in the Czech Republic - in fact, it's still likely we'll get flurries of snow and possible frosts well into April, but we also get lovely sunny days in between, and it's been quite warm sometimes too.  I expect you can guess which kind of weather it was when I made these a few days ago!

In essence, they're very simple, but I really enjoy looking at them - I see different details and different colour blends each time I gaze.

The backgrounds are done with Distress Spray Stains and Oxide Sprays - mainly Bundled Sage and Speckled Egg, with some other springtime blues and greens thrown in there.

It's the Tim Holtz Mosaic stencil (though I have to say I've always thought of it as cobble stones - that's the dollshouse bit of my brain talking!) - and after spritzing through it, I turned it over and printed onto the other tags.

Where I wanted some more patterning, I then did small areas of spritzing and turning and printing again.

The daisies are from the newest Wildflower Stems Thinlits set (number 3) which I couldn't resist.  And it nudged me into digging out the BigShot from the packing boxes.

(None of the other dies are unpacked yet, though, so you'll be seeing a lot of this and one other die and one embossing folder which I also ordered.)

I dipped the stems in Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint on the craft mat, and then used Picket Fence Distress Paint, a couple of Distress Crayons (Speckled Egg, Scattered Straw, Wild Honey), and a PITT pen to colour the flower heads and add dimension and shading.

I'm really pleased with the effect.  I put the paint on in quite thick strokes (not easy with fluid Distress Paint) and it's given the petals a lovely sense of texture and movement I think.

I'm also pleased with the dotted PITT pen markings just adding a bit of depth and dimension to the centre of the flowers.

And I love the little leaves growing over the edge of the lace trim.

The three quotes are all from my PaperArtsy EAB06 Spring Edition - and I'm embracing the imperfections of the embossing!

It's Vanilla White Wow powder, and I'm usually much better at getting a really crisp imprint.  But clearly I'm out of practice - and had to re-stamp with a couple of them, trying to get the words in the right place to fill up gaps left from the first time!!

So in case you can't make out every single letter, they're all down at the bottom of the post in full as today's quotes.

I hope you like them.  After a pretty rough couple of weeks, they give me a sense of lightness and hope which is something of a relief.  And although spring comes slowly here in the Czech Republic, there are finally signs that life is stirring.

I hope wherever you are that you are enjoying some light, some warmth and the return of hope.  Stay safe, stay well, and I'll see you again soon.

Spring has returned.  The earth is like a child that knows poems.
Rainer Maria Rilke

In spring, everything is full of promise.
Charles Lanman

The sun has come out and the air is vivid with spring light.
Byron Caldwell Smith

I'd like to share these at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme this week is Spring/Easter

At Try It On Tuesday they are saying Hello Spring! - spring is all about the spring flowers for me, so this fits right in

I don't know whether I'll get away with joining in at Tag Tuesday where they are looking for Mostly Monochrome - my blue/turquoise/greens are very crowded together in one part of the spectrum, so hopefully it will work.  Having been away for so long, I'd love to play!

Look to the Speckled Skies!

Hello all!  We're playing with tags this month at A Vintage Journey... the lovely Amanda is our host and she says Tag, You're It!. 

As always, there's oodles of inspiration from my fellow Creative Guides, along with all the challenge details, and we hope you'll come and join in at some point.

Playing with tags is nothing out of the ordinary for me (in fact it's a rare week that goes by without one putting in an appearance) so to give this a little lift for the challenge, I've created a double-layered tag - two for the price of one, if you will.

And I've been playing with Speckled Egg Distress again... right down to some actual speckled eggs - but of course!

In fact, the regular sized tag mounted on the jumbo one here was my very first smooshing of the Speckled Egg (S.E.) when it arrived.









At some point the tag had had an oval cut out of it so it was just hanging around on the craft table when I wanted to play with my new colour, so now I had a Speckled Egg-smooshed tag with an oval cut-out sitting around.

It finally found a home when Amanda's challenge theme needed fulfilling... and here it is.









I've had these little plastic eggs in the stash for a while - they put in occasional appearances.  I used the S.E. Distress Paint along with a bit of white to coat the eggs, before spattering on some Mud Splat Fresco paint using a toothbrush.  They're inside the tape to stop them rolling around!












Given the tag already had the hole - and an egg-shaped hole at that - it immediately seemed like a good nook to rest a little nest in.   As you can see, I added some design tape, and a couple of my favourite stamps got pressed into action (yet) again.














The birds are embossed so they have that magical flash of movement as the light catches them.













I thought a wooden background made sense - sort of like a tree to hold up the nest - so I used some wood plank paper and whitewashed it...

















... before adding a bit of script stamping in S.E. Oxide...













... and some more of my favourite Tim Holtz grasses.
















And then it was really just a case of assembling things.














Some tangled moss and supporting twigs from the garden to form the nest.














The feathers have been gathering on my craft table.  I've been feeding the birds during lockdown.  Many, many different species have been visiting, so the occasional feather is really not hard to come by just outside the front door.












I suddenly thought that my quote (from PaperArtsy EAB11 Wings & Flight) would look good on another oval.  The original cut-out was long gone so I grabbed another S.E.-smooshed tag which was lying around and cut it from that.










It was then that I discovered the main tag must have had a wash of gesso/white paint before smooshing, because my sentiment egg has a far warmer manila tone.  But I love how it brings out the greener side of S.E. 

(I didn't want the author of the quote's name to appear (Gustave Flaubert, in case you're wondering), so I used some masking tape over it when I was inking up the tag and removed it before stamping.)













The speckled eggs look just as I imagined nestled in their mossy bed.














I'm sure that one of these birds will be back to keep an eye on them very soon.








I suddenly thought it might be nice to have a couple of glass pebble "dewdrops" glistening around the place, so I dug them out and played with the positioning to get the balance right.

They were definitely a happy last-minute thought.  I love how they catch your eye with a glimmer of light every now and then.






Gluing down wasn't entirely straightforward.  Feathers have their own ideas about which direction they want to curve in.

And those lovely soft fluffy bits die a death if you get glue on them!











But with the addition of some S.E.-dyed crinkle ribbon and frayed Idea-ology Linen Ribbon at the top, tied with fine twine, I was very happy by the time I'd finished.














I hope you like it too, and that you'll be inspired to come and play Tag, You're It with us this month at A Vintage Journey.  As always, we really enjoy seeing your creations and at the end of the challenge we'll be selecting three Pinworthies to go on our A Vintage Journey Pinworthies board.









As though there's not enough inspiration by the Creative Guides over at the main blog, I just want to finish off with a shot of my two recent Speckled Egg tags together.  They were made within 24 hours of each other, and I think this one and the Change your life tag work rather well as a pair.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I look forward to some blog-visiting time this weekend to see what you've been up to lately.  Stay safe, stay well... the second wave is rising.  Best to stay indoors and do some crafting really!

I do not live happily or comfortably
With the cleverness of our times.
The talk is all about computers,
The news is all about bombs and blood.
This morning, in the fresh field,
I came upon a hidden nest.
It held four warm, speckled eggs.
I touched them.
Then went away softly,
Having felt something more wonderful
Than all the electricity of New York City.
Mary Oliver

Change your life

Hello all, and thank you so much for your lovely comments on my Rusty Rustic Houses.  I'm here today with a considerably shorter post!

It's one of my favourite times of the month... a Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey.  I don't think I've missed one since the very beginning.

Today's tag is one of the first things I've made using the new (not so new by now) Speckled Egg Distress colour.  I knew from the moment I saw it that it would be a new favourite, and ordered it in several mediums immediately.

They've been sitting on my craft table waiting for me to have time to play.   But I was so very right about loving it... it's completely magical.















I started with some wrinkle-free distressing, smooshing and splotching with Speckled Egg Distress Ink and Distress Oxide, along with Pumice Stone and some accents of Ground Espresso.  Happy already!















Then I applied strips of tissue tape and design tape and smeared some crackle paste over (following Live the Dream Jennie's lovely technique, not for the first time!).  

Once it had crackled, I dribbled some Speckled Egg Spray Stain over and spritzed with water to let it travel into all the nooks and crannies.











Finally, I sealed it with some Ultra-Matte Varnish.  Dabbing it on loosens some of the crackle - it's not very keen to stay on the slippery design tape - but that gives you an even more brilliantly weathered look, and once it's sealed whatever is still there is staying there.













I added some stamping in Ground Espresso Archival - postmarks and numbers courtesy of the Field Notes stamp plate...













... and some tiny mushrooms from the Tiny Toadstools set.  They've had a little touch of Pumice Stone Oxide on their caps.












Over that, there's some simple collaging with Field Notes ephemera.  I'm in love with these fungi, and they tone in really well with the Pumice Stone and Ground Espresso notes in the background.

They were actually in the mix first, and then I decided to stamp the little fungi to go with them, rather than the other way around.













The soft-eyed young man in the Photobooth snapshot looks quietly confident of his ability to change his life.  He might need a little more flamboyance though!













That's the advice of the quote, in any case.   If you're going to change your life, start immediately and do it flamboyantly!

I borrowed the acetate idea from some of my samples for my latest stamp release at PaperArtsy, and the quote itself is from one of the newest sets, EAB19 Life & Living.








I stamped my quote in Archival on some acetate cut from hoarded packaging, and added Earthtone Pepper embossing powder by Wow.

As you heat it, you can also start to gently shape the acetate strip to fold around the edges of the tag.  Then on the back I use a bit of tape to fasten the flaps in place.





Once that's done, I hold the tag up in the air, face-down, and heat from below, letting the acetate fall into its most natural curve.  If it needs a bit of help, the other end of a slender paint brush usually does the job smoothing it out.

That way you have this beautiful sculptural curve lifting over the tag.  The words are easily read as you move the tag around (which I've tried to mimic with these three photos from different angles) but you can also see whatever is behind them.  It makes me really happy!






There are symbols of the readiness for taking flight, for change, for all things new.

The tiny dragonfly/damselfly, perched ready for take off...










... and the little blue butterfly are from the Field Notes Snippets (tiny versions of the ephemera - in fact some of the script panels may be from there too, rather than the full-size ones).


I hope you like my tag.  I do, and I'm not afraid to say so!!













Do hop over to A Vintage Journey to see what my fellow Creative Guides have been up to for Tag Friday - I promise you it's worth the trip!

There's also a Link Party there if you'd like to share any tags you've made at any point in the last month.

I'm pausing part way across Europe for a few days with friends - all carefully distanced - and hope to find time for the long-promised visiting.  It's all been a bit hectic with packing the car and trying to second-guess the news about border restrictions and possible closures.

But these few days en route are usually pretty peaceful before we set off again, so I hope to see you all soon.

Take care, stay safe and happy crafting all.

New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.
Lao Tzu