12 Tags of 2012 - April

When I participate in Tim's 12 Tags of 2012 I can be sure of the following things:

1.  I will learn something.
2.  I will want to go shopping.
3.  I will get creative.
4.  I will enjoy myself.
5.  I will end up with very unladylike fingers!

So thanks to Tim for all of the above.  Here is my version of Tim's April tag.

As you can see I had the bird in the cage die and I made romantic love birds for my spring tag.  I did my best with the background technique as you can see below.  I wanted to use my Mustard Seed Distress Ink as I haven't used it yet so I used it instead of the Wild Honey.  I didn't have a suitable embossing folder to make a frame so I stamped my script and then tried to make my own embossing plate with a Kay and Co chipboard frame.  First time through the mangle and it was too thick and it ripped the card.  Then I had that 'What a silly thing to do" feeling when I realised I had well and truly stuck the frame to my Cuttlebug plate!  I tried to peel it off and the chipboard split into layers and then I had a 'Eureka' moment.....I tried embossing again and the peeled thinner frame worked much better.  

It took me ages to get the residue of the frame off my cutting plate and then I realised I should have used it a couple of times before I ripped off my unique embossing frame!  I think that was my dumb moment....

My embossed frame stood out more as I blended the Distress Inks over it and even more when I tapped the tag into the spritzed water.  So EVENTUALLY I was quite pleased with the effect!

I wanted blossom on my spring tree branches so I took some mini paper roses I had in my stash and took the centres out of them.  I rubbed them with some Mustard Seed Distress Ink and then spritzed them with water which spread the colour nicely.

So thanks again to Tim for the fun and the messy inkiness of it all!  I probably should have washed my hands before I typed this.........