Forgotten Friday- More Alphatags

Hi Folks, it's Friday again, that means it's time to rummage through your crafty stash to see what items you have lying neglected or unused, and see what you can make with them. I have chosen to show you a couple of the Alphatags that I make each month for the Chocolate Baroque Ning swap this week, as I have used some neglected stamps on both tags.

The first tag is for the letter 'S' and I have chosen a theme of Steampunk Silver. I went with a monochromatic colour scheme, and used some stamps from the Steampunk Christmas stamp plate which came out last year. I embossed some cogs on my tag using silver embossing powder, then coloured my tag with Weathered Wood Distress Ink. I stamped a script stamp over some of the remaining area, and then edged the tag with Black Soot Distress Ink.

I stamped and embossed a steampunk poinsettia onto grey card twice with silver embossing powder, then coloured one of these with Black Soot Distress Ink, using the embossing powder as a resist. I cut both flowers up, and curled them slightly. I layered them up, added a cog in the centre, and then put Glossy Accents in the middle of the cog. I dropped black glass glitter into the Glossy Accents, and left this to dry. I added a piece of black ribbon to finish.

I have used some stamps from the Woodland Dreams stamp set for my 'T' tag. I have gone for a theme of Twilight Trees. I sponged a range of Distress Inks across the background, then embossed a set of trees onto the tag using WOW black embossing powder. I added a sentiment along the bottom, and a set of silhouette birds from a Crafty Individuals stamp set, flying in front of the moon.

Only two more sets of Alphatags to go now, and we'll be finished. It seems strange to think that we have worked our way through the entire alphabet! Some months have definitely been easier than others! There are some difficult ones to come.....

Anyway, I am off on my travels again later this afternoon. I am heading up to the North West for the Happy Stampers Show tomorrow, and am looking forward to seeing lots of crafty friends. I am then off to see my lovely Daughter Megan in Stoke tomorrow for a couple of days, and we are helping her to move again. It only seems like five minutes since the last time!

If you feel like making something with your own neglected or forgotten items, please leave a comment on this post, and I'll pop along to your blog to take a look. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Alphatags O and P

Hi Folks, well, I don't post for ages, and then I post twice in one day! I had intended to try and get this post written fror Friday, as then anyone wanting to link to the post for Forgotten friday would be able to, but time just ran away from me last week. I visited my parents to see my Dad for his 80th Birthday, and had a lovely time. The icing on the cake was being able to organise a new member of the family for him, a six week old Yorkshire Terrier, that they have called Tiny. Dad lost their previous dog on his Birthday last year, which was a very sad memory for him, so the new puppy will help to ease that a little bit.

By my next visit, he will seem much bigger, I'm sure, as he is as small as one of my shoes at the moment!

I came home from my visit, only to turn around and repack my case, then we left for a trip to the Isle of Wight for a few days. We hadn't visited the island since the children were quite young, so were looking forward to spending a few days there. The added bonus was that I got to spend a few hours with a very special friend as well who lives locally.

We stayed in a lovely hotel, The Royal, in Ventnor, on the South end of the island, which has subtropical gardens. We were blown away by the huge agapanthus that they had there, which are grown by the Botanical Gardens in Ventnor.

The scenery across the island was spectacular, we weren't prepared for that I don't think, or the hilly inclines, coming from a very flat area ourselves! A lot of the roads were very narrow, and so My OH had to moderate his speed somewhat! The weather was very kind to us, and we enjoyed strolling around and taking in the sights while we were there. We particularly enjoyed visiting Osborne House, Queen Victoria's residence, after Prince Albert died. It really is an amazing house, with lovely gardens.

We enjoyed a cake laden afternoon with friends and really must start thinking about counting the calories for a while now! The only downside, was an unplanned trip to Hospital, as I haven't been feeling well for a while. I've been to the GP since I've been home, and hopefully will be back to normal soon.

So, onto my Alphatags! I have used lots of neglected stamps for both of my tags, which is why they fit the bill for a Forgotten Friday post so well. My 'O' tag features an ornate owl, which has been embossed over a Pan Pastel background. I've used another ornate image, this time a flower from what was originally a multibuy set, but it is a DL set in its own right. It's quite Art Nouvea in style, and I've used Pan Pastels in the Magenta range to sweep over the image once it was stamped with Versamark. I've added buttons to the owl's eyes, and a little owl charm to finish the tag.

My 'P' tag features Paisley, which I have created using white embossing for a resist, and then used the Summer Distress inks for a lovely burst of colour. I have then stamped a Peacock onto a piece of white shrink plastic, and coloured this with pencil. I painted it with an iridescent medium before fixing it onto the tag. I chose to use the word 'procrastinating', as I do that a lot, when I am choosing my tag subjects, and also to get going on them!

Well, that's me just about caught up now! Hopefully, my Forgotten Friday this week will be on time, have a good week, and thanks for stopping by, xx

Forgotten Friday 58- A few Alphatags

Hi folks, it's Friday again, phew! Where did the week go? It's time to rummage through your crafty stash and see what you have lurking there that is neglected or unused. I am cheating slightly this week, as I had a 'craft related incident', and cut my finger on a Nestability on Wednesday, which is making crafting very difficult at the moment. So I am showing you something that I have made already that used neglected items.

Regular followers will know that I make tags for the Chocolate Baroque Alphatag Swap each month, although I don't always blog them. This month, a couple of my tags used very unused items, so I feel that I can show you those tags for my Forgotten Friday post. The first tag is 'M' for Music:

I embossed the tag using a Music embossing folder and an embossing diffuser, to give me a blank area in the centre for stamping. I stamped the musical instrument using Black Archival ink. I then coloured a piece of mountboard with red Distress Ink and stamped the musical heart, before cutting it out. I triple embossed this with thick WOW clear embossing powder. I love the shine that this embossing powder gives, it's the best one that I've found. I added some Sizzix leaves and black ribbon to finish.

My second tag is 'N' for Nature:

I coloured the background of the tag with Pan Pastels before stamping the tree from the Essence of Nature stamp set from Chocolate Baroque. I decoupaged the butterflies, which I coloured with Polychromos pencils. The leaves were stamped onto card that had been coloured with Pan Pastels. I also added a bit of crackle around the edges using a stamp from the Echoes of Italy stamp set.

It's been lovely to get some of these older stamp sets out, give them an airing again, and to give the embossing diffuser a try out. Why don't you have a rummage through your crafty stash, find something that you haven't used for a while, and make something? If you leave a comment, I'll pop along to your blog to take a look.

I'd like to say hello to all of my new followers, thank you so much for joining me, you are very welcome.

I'm off to visit my parents today, so I'd better get a wriggle on packing the car now, thanks for stopping by, xx