12 Tags of 2015 - June

Hi everyone

Hope you are having a fabulous summer.  I am catching up with one of my tags today!  This is my long overdue June tag.

I love the technique Tim showed us using a stripes stencil to create a tartan background.  I use paint to create mine.  Then I had an idea to combine a quote with a cute and very arty bird house.

As usual I made my smaller sampler piece.  Can you believe we are now two thirds of the way through the year?!  Time flies when you are making art - and that give me an idea for another tag!

I was hoping to catch up with my July tag too this month - might be able to squeeze it in before Tim publishes his September tag!!!

I hope you enjoy watching this video which sees me make the creative journey from Tim's inspiration to my interpretation.

Hope you summer is filled with fun and sunshine.  Thank you for popping by x

12 Tags of 2015 - August

Hi Everyone

Here is my August tag and it is EARLY!  Yay me………don't mention the two I have missed ;-)

I had great fun creating this magical madness and I know the colours are a long way from Tim's original inspiration but if you watch the video you will be able to see the techniques and some of the elements are there in my tag too!

Tim used one of his found relatives on his tag and I used this found photo of me aged 18 and off to the ball - well now I am about to fly off on my new glittery wings!  Definitely a fun and vibrant tag from me this month.  I was hoping the hot colours might warm up the dull summer we are having here in the UK today.

As usual there is a video to show you how I got from Tim's inspiration to my interpretation and I hope you enjoy the journey!  See what I did there???! ;-)

I have also managed to catch up with one of my missed tags so I will post that video later on in the month.  I am going to be a bit quiet on the social media front this month as this is the holiday season but I will be back in September with a new and exciting project!  What a teaser I am hee hee!

See you all soon and thank you for popping by X

12 Tags of 2015 - May

Hi everyone

Today I am sharing my May tag and as you can see I had fun with a red, white and blue theme!  Well I suppose strictly speaking it is red, cream and blue ;-)

Tim used a heritage photo on his tag with burlap and tiny tattered flowers.  I chose to use denim and a photo of my two lovely boys and made teeny tiny pom pom flowers which looked fab and added great texture to my tag.

I also made my usual sampler square ready for framing at the end of the year.  Can you believe next month we are half way through already!!!

Please check out the video where you can see all the fun I had getting from Tim's inspiration to my interpretation.  I hope you are inspired to join in with this fun challenge or at least follow this link to check out the huge variety of tags this challenge inspires!

I wonder what June's tag will bring - I hope it has sunny warm weather attached ;-)  Hope you are having a fun weekend.  I am off to crop with my friends today so much chatting and coffee with cake for me!!!!  Maybe the odd scrapbook page too ha ha!

Thank you for popping by X

12 Tags of 2015 Tutorial - April

Hi everyone

Before I get to posting my April tutorial I just wanted to let you know if you don't already that I didn't make it on to the Graphic 45 Design team for this year.  I was a bit sad yesterday as you can imagine but I managed to stay away from the chocolate which is good!!!! ;-)

Today I just wanted to thank you all for the tremendous support and good wishes that you sent to me.  It means the world to me and you will be pleased to know you can uncross those fingers at last!  The good news is that I feel a renewed determination on the crafting front and you will see two brand new tutorials appearing on my ETSY shop shortly as a result of the work I did for the audition.

I do always have fun auditioning as I completely indulge myself and bury myself in all that lovely Graphic 45 paper.  On the plus side too I did get a step closer this year ;-)  I wish the new design team lots and lots of fun this year and I look forward to seeing what they create as always.  I especially want to say congratulations to Clare for her second term as the Graphic 45 UK ambassador.  Hopefully we will bump into each other again soon.

Here is the promised tutorial for this month's 12 Tags of 2015.  I hope that with the post yesterday and all the fun you can see I had with my tag on today's tutorial that I inspire some of you who are perhaps thinking about it to have a go in May.  Which reminds me I must pop over and see what Tim's inspiration is for this month.

and just for fun and a blast from the past here are a couple of other tag tutorials.  This from way back as I was just learning this videoing malarky and it is a review of the first year I played along with the 12 tags of 2012.

Here is a tag from 2013 for you to check out.

Way back in 2012 I also used to play along with the lovely Tag Tuesday group.  They are still going strong so if you check out this video and then click on this link you can see another group of lovely crafters who make tags every week!

I still have all my tags from Tag Tuesday hanging on my wall for inspiration! Many fond memories of a lovely group.

And last but not least a fun tag video I made when I was just starting out on my YouTube journey!  Please imagine me laughing away to myself as I edit the final shots in the video!

So that is it from me for today.  I hope you have fun watching some of my videos.  Don't forget to like and share them as it really helps me promote both my YouTube Channel and my Blog.  X

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend - we have a bank holiday weekend here in the UK so more crafting time for all ;-)

Thank you for popping by x

12 Tags of 2015 - April

Hi Everyone

Today I am posting my tag for April - can you believe we are a third of the way through the year already?!

As usual I am getting to my tag late so I will post the photos today and the tutorial tomorrow or Friday depending on upload times!  At least if I post the photos today I can actually join in the challenge!

For those of you new to my blog I thought I would explain what this tag challenge is all about.  Each month I play along with the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015 challenge which you can see if you follow this link.  Anyone who wants to play along can do so and we all link up over on Tim's blog.  On the first of every month Mr Holtz publishes a tag to inspire us.  There are always detailed photo instructions of how he made his tag and that always involves interesting techniques for us to try.  There are always lots of lovely products to see so plenty of inspiration every month…..oh and there are prizes to be won too!!!

Then it is over to you/us.  If you are a beginner you may wish to mimic Tim's tag and try out new techniques but nine times out of ten we don't have all that Tim has used so that is the fun part of the challenge.  That is our chance to give our tags our own unique twists.

From Tim's Inspiration to our Interpretation.  When you look at the tags of all the people that join in each month you will see the variety of tag designs Tim's original tag inspires.

I have been playing along for 3 years now and I love to see where the journey takes me - sometimes you can instantly recognise the original inspiration and you will definitely see that this month but other months you would have to look hard to see the elements I have taken from the original tag.

So without further ado here are my April tags and of course the matching 3" sample square.

One of this months techniques was using water colour paper and water colouring techniques.  You will see my colouring is a bit more vibrant than Tim's and if you watch my tutorial you will see how I achieved the look using both my Distress Inks and Distress Stains.

I decided to add a little decoupage element to my flowers and used my ink pads to create the two tone ribbon to match my project.  Tim used his Distress Markers to create an ombre effect on his ribbon and as I don't have many Distress Markers I did things a little differently.

Here is a close up of the sampler square:

I have four little squares now so I thought I would show you just how each month takes you in a totally different crafting direction.

I am looking forward to seeing what the whole sampler looks like when I frame it at the end of the year.

So I hope I have encouraged a few newbies to play along with this fab challenge.  Click on this link if you want to see all the different tags Tim has inspired with his April Tag.

I will post the tutorial of how I got from Tim's inspiration to my interpretation tomorrow - YouTube willing!!! ;-)

Thank you for popping by x

12 Tags of 2015 - March

Hi Everyone

Just a quick post on this very changeable March day today - I think we are getting into practice for the season of April showers today here in a very blustery Derby!!!

Today I am posting my March tag and if you have seen Tim Holt's tag already you will know that mine is looking a little different as usual!  I hope you don't think this one is a bit cheesy!!!! ha ha ;-)

The first change I had to make was which stamp to use on my tag this month as I didn't have the gorgeous butterfly Tim used and then the phrase 'Say Cheese!' came into my head and so it continued!  I made myself a cheese effect stripe on my tag using washi tape.

I had fun trying out the embossing powder technique that Tim had on his tag and I will definitely try that again as it gives an interesting extra texture to embossing paste.  You can see how I got from Tim's inspiration to my interpretation this month if you take a look at my video below.

Of course, as usual, I made my little 3" square sampler piece too and you can see at the end of the video how this contrasts to the first two I have made so far this year!  I may need to tone it down a little but I am going to see where the rest of the year takes me before I decide.

So that is it from me except to say if you fancy playing along with the Tim Holtz 12 Tags Challenge then please follow this link - April begins tomorrow so I am looking forward to seeing the new tag inspiration for this month.

I am off to do some of the dreaded H word ……..housework :-( !!!  We have visitors at the weekend so I better get on with it I suppose!!!!  We have two French Gymnasts coming to visit as part of an exchange programme so we are hoping for nicer weather than today!!!  It will be fun catching up with our friends from Chalons who we haven't seen for 4 years.  Last time we relied heavily on Google translate to get us through the weekend!!!……Though we did find that 'Shall we go to McDonalds for tea?' need no translation at all ;-)  I am thinking as one of our Gymnasts Thomas was quite good with his English back then, now he is 17 he may well replace the translator this year.

Callum is back on crutches so he will not be able to compete this weekend - I am wondering just how good sport is for you as he seems to go from one injury to the next.  Rugby and Gymnastics are not the most delicate of pastimes I suppose!

See you again tomorrow with another Video for the Rubber Dance Colour Challenge post.  Have a fun week if you are having an Easter Break over the coming days/weeks.

Thank you for popping by X

12 Tags of 2015 - February

Hi everyone,

Well the cold I mention in this month's tag tutorial has materialised!  I am feeling rough and topping up on the lemsip as I type!  I hate lemsip but it does the trick.  I need to feel a bit better as I am venturing out into the  cold to watch Callum play rugby in a bit!  Brrrrr.  I have my thermals on so I should be ok for the match!

Before I go just wanted to link up with Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015.  Here is my February tag.

I am in love with this paper collage background technique!  A great way to use up paper scraps and it looks soooooo pretty!

I also made my little 3" square in the same style and I am looking forward to seeing how the finished sampler turns out at the end of the year.  I am repeating a couple of elements in each square so they look like they belong together.  I am adding the date and a stitched border with my usual mat and layered frame.

……..before I don my coat and scarf here is the link to the video tutorial where you can see how I got from Tim's inspiration to my interpretation in the month of February!  Click on the link to check out all the lovely February tags over on Tim's Blog.

Hope you are having a fab weekend.  Thank you for popping by X

My first New Year's Resolution - Failed!!!!

Hi everyone

I promised myself time and time again last year I wouldn't be one of the last to play along with the Tim Holtz 12 Tags challenge and so I decided to resolve to do better in 2015…….and here in February is my January tag!!!! ;-)  Oh well back to the drawing board…..

This year I decided to make something a little extra as I play along…..I am not sure what to call it yet but I am thinking 'Sampler'.  The idea is that at the end of the year I will mount and frame all 12 of my 3" squares and turn them into a home decor piece to remind me at a glance of all the fun I had during the year.

Here is a close up of the Sampler for January:

Now there is a story to tell you about this one.  As you can see I decided to include little resolutions as the word strips on my tag.  I showed hubby a couple of days later what I had been creating and he said, "Well then?" in an expectant tone……….I replied, "Well then what?"……."Haven't you got something to tell me"………."N"…….(penny drops!)…….."Ivan, I reaaaaally Lurve Yoooooo!

I think there is room to add the word strip 'When I remember" ;-)

Here is a close up of the tag:

I am doing ok with the 'Eat less Chocolate'……so far anyway.  As usual I have a video taking you on my creative journey from Tim's Inspiration to my Interpretation.  Check out all the fun I had making the background.  I think I am calling it the throw everything at it technique!

February's tag is made so just the editing to do!  Might actually be early…..ish at this rate ;-)

Thank you for popping by X