Monday, March 26, 2012

Tagged Expressions...

Hello!
Monday musings are in the house as a new Simon Says Stamp & Show challenge theme hits town. Time for some Tagology this week...with well, yes, a tag! Or two or three then...
The perfect sized canvas for a miniature work of art and coincidentally a fabulous chance to show off your Tim tags if you're on the school bus with Creative Chemistry 101! l was well pleased with the tag theme as my whole house and moreover, my crafty zone, are but chaotic dust dunes. The makeover endureth...

There's seems to be so many changes going on at the moment - in both my house and my life as baby day races towards me. Eeeek!

l've always been a  real "Do what I want, go go go!" type of gal, so I'm on a very steep learning curve indeed.

I've never done any art journalling but love the expressive nature of it so I decided to lay down my thoughts in a triptych of inky tags aided by the company of my favourite Wendy Vecchi stamps...
The story line is Stop and Listen, Become and finally Live...and I think it's fair to say that's probably the order that things need to happen in - for many of us. I'm not always such a fan of the 'stop' bit, but sometimes a new start begins with a stop!

Only then can you actually really listen. I've also come to the conclusion that "I don't know" is a perfectly acceptable and valid answer to many of life's questions...
l enjoyed a real free 'go with the flow' session using a variety of Distress Stains and Distress Inks  to create my back ground.
 I began with a mix of Distress Stains on my craft sheet and then dragged my tags through them. I dried them, spritzing on a little water to help them blend and then carried on building up the layers by pressing the tag down into the remaining stains.

This achieves more of a blotchy, dappled effect which I like a lot.
l added more colour by blending Distress Inks onto each tag and then I think I pulled out every Wendy background stamp I own! I used lots of Monarch Orange, Vermillion and Plum Archival inks to stamp just sections of the tags. Then I went in with more detail including flowers, leaves, numbers and here the fabulous Wrought Iron border.
I chose a stamp to be the focal point of each tag. The Art Girl for the first, the dress-form for the second and finally the Peeking In Eyes. The Girl and Eyes were stamped directly onto the tag in Cobalt ink whilst the dress form was stamped in Plum onto inky card and then cut out.

l used a Signo white gel pen to pick out some of the stamped details, shapes and lines as well as adding a bit of contrast. Lines, dots, circles -  or just refining and  retracing the shapes - whatever I fancied!

Once I was happy with that I stamped a Wendy saying and played around with some of the words. I think they are great phrases to play with and would be fabulous in on a real journal page...
Just a quick close-up. I luuuurve how the circles, stripes and leaves work together...
So there you go... A bit of tag journalling and inky food for thought from me. If, maybe like me, you're not ready for a full on Art journal, let your fingers and thoughts run wild on a tag....! Do take a look at the other fabulous creations from the Design Team. I think they're all so amazing and different.
Don't forget the generous $50 prize on offer too! Your imagination and an empty tag awaits you... and a dishevelled craft room awaits me....
I've got my work cut out today so I'm off into the inky beyond.

Many thanks for stopping by,
Sarah.

29 comments:

Unknown said...

How gorgeous!

Heidi said...

Sarah, these are great! The colours are wonderful! Thank you for the inspiration!

Linda M. Cain said...

So fun, so colorful! LOVE the little hand coming up over the mouth!

~Linda

Michelle Webb said...

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading your latest post. These 3 tags are really cool, I love each one and you can see all the layers, with so much amazing detail. I love the hand over the mouth, and the colours you have chosen are great. Really inspiring too, makes me want to get in my craft room. Michelle x

Debi said...

these tags are so stunning and inspiring!! I've just added them to my Pinterest board too, Debi x

Sarah said...

These are absolutely Stunning! I'm taking the class too and my tags don't look nearly as amazing as yours! Beautiful work of art!

Sophie said...

Wow!
Was für fantastische Tags.
Ein super Blog.
Ich bin total begeistert :-)

Viele Grüße
Sophie

Nancy Wethington said...

Sarah, as usual your work is amazing. The layering you accomplish with inks and paints is inspiring. And that pen work really shows off the design. Love it!

Peggy Parker said...

Sarah, these are incredibly detailed! I adore the bright colors! You are such an inspiration.

Unknown said...

beautiful tags...the colors are so saturated...just lovely :)

Ali said...

These are just *beautiful*!! I love the bright, intense colours and all the layering and overlapping of colours and all the incredible detail. I could sit and stare at these for hours - there is always some new detail to see! Just amazing. :)

Would you mind awfully if I Pinned these for future inspiration?

Sarah said...

Thanks very much everyone...I am fine with being Pinned as long as you add a link and do it gently! Ow! Have a good week and go and get inky...
Sarah.

Rachel Mims said...

Love the brightly colored tags!! Great work.

Craft Addicts - Tracy Evans said...

Fabulous trio of tags Sarah, love love the mix of vibrant colours which blend beautifully. The images you have used are perfect for the mix of backgrounds. LOVE . Tracy x

Candy C said...

Sarah, your tag trio is amazing! I love the vibrant colors you've achieved in your backgrounds. They look fantastic! I also love the composition of your Wendy stamps you've used. They all work together perfectly on each of these tags. And the white opaque pen ... perfect touch to make those images POP! You did an amazing job on these! <3 Candy

Redanne said...

Hi Sarah, I think you should more journalling! If you can create like this during a make-over I just wonder what you will do when your room is ship-shape again. This is true mastery of journalling, love the colours, the stamps, the highlights - well everything. You are a great inspiration (I am few days being in TH's class).

Zuzu's Blog said...

LOVE these.. gorgeous colours and packed with detail.. real nice job. x

Princess Judy Palmer said...

Excellent tags! Just perfect! the colors, the details, the stamps, the layers, the white accents, but best of all-that hand over the mouth!!!

Anonymous said...

These are absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! Love all the goodness there is for your eyes to travel around the page!!!

Jacqui Chimes said...

Beautifully vibrant

Art By Wanda said...

LOVE your tags!!! The colors are gorgeous... the images, words, and doodling fabulous!!!!

Ephemera said...

These are fabulous. I love how the individual colours blends together but stand out and all the fabulous elements work perfectly together. Terrific! xx

Lori said...

These are absolutely gorgeous, Sarah! I just love those backgrounds, and of course, the Wendy-ness is fab!

Tentaciones de Papel said...

I love your work!!!! It is very beautiful!!!

Regards from Spain!!!!

Craftychris said...

oooh the colours on these are amazing! Fabulous indeed! xx

Gillian .... said...

A wonderful burst of colour in this Tag Trio Sarah, love all the doodling & WV stuff of course. x

email: Steph@SimonSaysStamp.com said...

Wow, Sarah!!! Amazing trio of bright pops of color and embellishing! I love the little touch of stitches too :)

*mwah*
Steph
Simon Says Stamp!

Alison said...

These tags are stunning Sarah! The white highlights really pop against all that fabulous colour! xox

Anonymous said...

Love these bright colourful tags. I'm really curious about your use of the coloured Archival Inks. Since Prof. Tim did his resist techniques with these inks I've been hooked on finding out more about these inks. Thanks for sharing your beautiful tags showing these inks.