July Tag Swap

I was fortunate enough to be able to create tags for two people this month of July, my birthday month! The theme for this month is "Royals", a totally fun theme because you can go so many different ways with it.

This first one is "Bow down bitches". I loved the attitude this model is giving and thought it was perfect to adorn her in riches and a crown. I ran the tag through the embosser, painted the tag in red and sprayed it to make it all glossy. Cut out the flowers and butterfly from a great napkin I got from another google friend and colored it with oil pastels once I glued it down. Adding the embellishments to her was so fun and finding that perfect crown for her was a great finishing touch. I had to color the large crown on top with InkaGold and finished it off with some ribbons.

 

Next, is the "Future Queen" tag, and I was lucky enough to find a vintage picture of Queen Elizabeth as a toddler! She was so adorable with those golden curls! Her crown is made from a vintage book page and some gold wire I wrapped to form the adornment. Her staff is an InkaGold covered toothpick with beads and gold wire to decorate. I used wire and beading for hanging.

"The way a man treats a woman is the best identification of his nobility." This quote by Tsarina Alexandra, the last czar's wife, was the inspiration behind this tag. I used lots of bright colored sprays fort he background, embossed a crown and added the embellishments with black sparkly brads. I used gold glitter glue to frame the pictures.

"You may address me as Your Royal Highness" tag is one of my favorites. I used inks, sprays and oil pastels for the colors in the background. Using texture paste through a harlequin stencil and added color using oil pastels and ink. Texture spray was also added after all the colors were down. I folded up a gold ribbon to form pleats for the bottom and added the rhinestone for some glamour.

The colors behind "My sister may be the princess but I am the Queen" tag are made with the spray inks with a bit of gold splashed on afterwards. Letting the sides soak up some of the red ink is how I made the border. Used lots of glitter glue and colorful ribbons to finish it off.

"Let me adjust my crown and get my day started" had a nice ring to it so I felt I needed just the right Queen pic and a place to put her for it all to work. Her tower is made from a toilet paper roll covered with paper I sprayed with ink through a bit of punchinello shaped like bricks. The top was made from cardboard folded and colored. The Queen has a golden embossed frame around her and also embossed foliage covering the bottom of the tower and to the side. I stamped and colored the bird on deli paper before gluing it to the tag. Some of the flowers I made using vintage book pages with pearls added to the middle. The other flowers are from recollections that I had in my stash.

Thinking of You Card, Hand Carved Eraser Stamps and February Tags

First up is my latest addiction! Carving erasers into stamps is really so much fun and instantly gratifying. The hardest part was deciding what design to carve. I'm putting together a small care box for my daughter which will include these stamps and notecards, stamp pads and markers. As you can see, her name is Jennifer, her friends call her Jen.

A friend of my husband's was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, so I decided that sending a card might help his spirits.

Next up, February "Love" themed tag swap. this first one is centered around a funny vintage photo! I love her heart shaped hairdo and the arrow going through it :) I just used some scrapbook paper and stamps, uniball gel pen, some plastic glasses and derwent aqua pencils. I used to knit lots a few years back, so two of the tags have some saved up yarn attached through the holes.

The back is all scrapbook paper, a sweetheart stamp and lacy heart stamp :)

This girl is a stamp on deli paper colored with water color markers. The red background is made with inka gold mixed with water. The heart is another stamp filled in with white crackle paint and a hint of a very watered down red water color paint marker. The butterflies and words are also stamped and colored.

The back is covered with a piece of deli "under paper" that had been used under sprayed cheesecloth.  I used a little bit of highlight around the little boy and added L O V E inside some of the heart with the uniball gel pen. There is an embossed frame using red and gold embossing powder around him and on the bottom two corners. The border around the card is made with the red inka gold as well.

The last tag started with the sun rays embossing folder. I used some texture cream and some sprays and many different color oil pastels to the entire card. I added the lady in love and her beau with a heart frame. 

The back of the tag is colored with red inka gold and a paper doily which was sprayed with tattered angels and heidi swapp. I cut the vintage photo in a heart shape and bordered it with some glitter.

A quick card I made out of water color paper, water color pencils, stamps and of course, a white uniball gel pen.