Tag Tuesday - Mermaids

I was really looking forward to this weeks theme as I love the thought that mermaids might exist almost as much as the possibility of fairies!

I made a mermaid tag a few weeks ago now and I knew I wanted to make more along the same lines.  So first I made this pink mermaid enjoying the last of the evening sun.  I really enjoy being able to go to town with glitter and sparkles!   I had so much fun that I couldn't help myself and so I made........

Another one!!  This one was inspired by the quote on the first one.  I found a fab Mermaid Lullaby and quoted one of the verses on the top tag and so I decided to make one of those 'Mermaids Fast Asleep' on my second tag.

I took a few pictures as I worked so you could see how I made my tags.

First I sketched out a mermaid using an image I found on the internet and then coloured her using Pro Markers.  I used a blank tag to make sure that she was to scale.

I tried to make a background using Distress Ink (top tag).  I wasn't quite happy with the colour so I tried again with acrylic paint and I liked that much more so I used that one.  I added some inking round the edges with Iced Spruce and then I added some shimmer to the sea with Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks which are a fab way to add shimmer in small amounts as they have a lovely fine brush applicator.  They are quite good for the arms too as you have to shake, shake, shake them to distribute the shimmer.

Next I rooted through all my scraps of paper to find all the pink and white shimmer bits that I could and then I used a hole punch to make lots of pretty scales.  I have cut out my mermaid and added pretty iridescent paper to her tail and added some shimmer to her hair.  Then I began glueing on the scales all the way up my mermaids tail.  I know this is a little time consuming but it is well worth the effort as it looks fab when it is done.

I felt I needed to add a frame to my tag so matted my tag on black glitter card.  I mounted my mermaid with foam pads and then I get free rain with the glittery goodies!  I used lots of different colours of Stickles to embellish my mermaids hair and tail and then I added pink and white tiny jewels and I found some micro beads in silver and purple in my stash that looked great.  I think these were originally from when I did some decoupage and they were used on the flower centres.  I had forgotten I had them so it was great to get them out and actually use them again!  I then made magical waves around the bases of the rocks with pinflair glue gel and more micro beads and some of the larger clear glass beads I have been using of late.  Then it was just find a quote and add it with some pretty colour coordinated fibres - Finished tag number one.

Starting the process all over again.  Pro Marker coloured sketch.

This time I was happy with my Distress Ink background and used Chipped Sapphire and Broken China.  I then splattered with water and then finally a light spray with Blue Pearl Dylusions spray and my Deep sea background was complete.

Embellishing with blue scales this time and so on!

The next couple of photos I have added in as they show up the sparkles better.  The top finished photos were taken in Artificial Light and the following ones were taken in daylight.  I am gradually getting to grips with what works best to show off a project - learning!  My light box is 3 light bulbs away from being finished.  They are on order from Amazon so I am looking forward to more experimentation with my photos when it is ready to use.

I coloured 3 sea horse charms with a blue Promarker and then rubbed on some sparkle which worked nicely as these were a bright yellow colour originally!

I made a hair bobble with a shell and added a couple of tiny ones next to the clam shell.

Did anyone else buy this snakeskin paper many moons ago.  It makes a great background to pose my tags on.

A couple of little metal spacers and pink jewels just for fun!

One final photo to share with you........

Who knew how much mess two tags could make!!?  You'd think after using all those pretty sparkles it would have looked a bit prettier on my desk.  As you can see in time honoured crafting fashion I had all this space to start with and ended up working on a postage stamp sized work area!!

Guess what I am off to do now?!  If you want to see the first Mermaid tag that I made a couple of weeks ago then follow this link.  If you want to see even more fab mermaid tags then follow this link to Tag Tuesday.

Thanks for swimming by!