Alpha tags O and P

Well it's beginning to look like I wouldn't have much to post if it wasn't for my alpha tag swap efforts! Here are my next two and I am feeling rather like I am running a crafting marathon with this swap, maybe not helped because I also feel like I am running one at work too!!

The first is O for Oriental, using the Chocolate Baroque Oriental Bookmark stamps. I embossed the image twice in gold on black and added highlights with H2O paints and glazing. I added green dewdeops as acccents. I gave the fans in the top corners the same treatment and added a golden tassle as a little touch of the orient.

My second tag for today  is P is for peacock. The Chocolate Baroque catalogue includes several gorgeous peacock themed plates and the Peacock Party CD full of lovely papers. This tag was a so and so to try get a decent picture of. I am always rushing to take pics to get them into the post for the swap deadline!

For this tag I embossed teal pearlescent card with a Couture embossing folder. I added H2O paint to the feather "eyes" and highlighted the feather image with purple Micamagic ink. I embossed the peacock in teal metallic EP, cut him out and added colour with distress markers. I added some of my favourite bindi type gems which are two tone purple and turquoise as accents for the tail. I finished off with some sparkly turquoise fibres.

I hope like us you have finally had some decent sunshine today. Our garden has been looking seriously like a jungle after all the wet weather. Before we moved in, our house had been empty for seven years and the garden was completely overgrown. As we have a tendency towards "wildlife gardening" it doesn't take long before nature takes over and soon visitors will need a machete! There are still some beautiful highlights though, like this lovely purple poppy I had to photgraph the other morning with the sun shining through while on my early morning wander in my dressing gown to feed the friendly rabbits who run up when they hear us open the front door or the car pull in!

Today I replanted our window boxes which were looking seriously tired. I am very pleased with the results of some bargain plant purchases of apricot begonias, really black petunias and variegated helichrysums, a slightly unusual mixture, but quite striking. That's probably a pic for another day.

We finished our nice warm day with a picnic by the coast, it was very pleasant. Summer picnics are a regular treat for us and there haven't been many days when we have been tempted to eat al fresco this year. It was just the kind of relaxation I needed!

Hope you are all enjoying a good weekend.

Elaine x

Alpha Tags L, M and N

Well this month sees us pass the half way point on our Alphatag swap. Goodness this has been a real marathon for me as I am so busy at work and have such a lot of crafty deadlines for my various other committments. Anyway, without further ado here are my latest batch!

My first is L for lemons. When I saw the trees on the Chocolate Baroque Woodland Dreams plate, their canopies made me think of lemon slices. I computer generated the sentiment, one of my favourites. The background is made using the seasonal Distress Ink Lemonade pad on pearlescent card, with Sunshine Yellow Adirondack sponged over the top through a Dreamweaver stencil. Once I had mounted the slices and words I added a whole packet of sparkling yellow dome gems for the bubbles in the lemonade. 

My M theme was meadow and uses one of my all time favourite CB sets of stamps Wild Meadow.  

This pic is a little pale possibly. This is nearly a one layer tag, except for the butterfly, and unusually for me uses my much neglected Versamagic chalk inks. I shaded the sky using a nestie scallop mask and then layered up the different stamps.

My final tag, and maybe the one that I was least happy with was N for New Leaf. This one used the leaf from the recent CB Sunny Sunflowers set.

For this one I cut out a tag out of some old velvet lampshade fabric a friend had given me and started by stamping the leaf in brown Brilliance ink. I then embossed the leaf onto copper and mocha pearlescent card using Vintage Photo Distress EP which has a rough texture. I added those and some gold leaf brads into the mix. My new leaf was embossed onto gold and I added a computer generated sentiment "turn over a new leaf" on the back. I added an eyelet and attached it to the tag with a chain so it could be turned over. I finished with a piece of gorgeous leaf edged ribbon.

The tags have all found their new homes now and my collection has grown with three more lovely works of art from other girls in the swap group.

Hope you have a good weekend out of the wet weather. I am hoping we might get a little sunshine later!

Elaine x

New stamps over at Chocolate Baroque

The new stamps of the month have been launched over at Chocolate Baroque. They are the lovely Dusky Damask and Pretty Poppies.

There is a special multi-buy offer here. Here is one of the cards I made, using a stamp from the Poppy plate with another stamp from the Artistic Expressions plate  that was a marriage made in heaven.

I love using black in my cards and this time I decided to try gold embossing direct onto the black card blank. I added the wings embossed onto gold pearlescent wings.

I embossed the heart onto red card. I puffed up the heart using a paper stump on the reverse, coloured it with red H2O paint and then glazed it with glossy accents. I added the crown in gold and finished off with a few little gems.

Keep your eyes peeled for more samples using these lovely stamp sets over on the Design team blog and the members own blogs. Someone will be lucky enough to win a giveaway of these stamps.

Elaine