Tag Along!

Paper crafts are near and dear to my heart.  I have so many scrapbooks I am running out of space.  Paper is like fabric for me.  Each time I work with it I feel like I am quilting.   I like things very straight and clean and even.  My education is in Horticulture: Landscape Design.  Drafting classes were my favorite in college.  This might explain my love of rulers and scissors.  With all this in mind, I started my first tag for Elizabeth's Tag Along "Happy Homemaker".

http://creativebreathing.blogspot.com/

image courtesy:  http://skippingstonesdesign.com/

Patterns always make things easier for me.  Skipping Stones Design is a fabulous website that provides patterns and examples.   Now that is not to say that I don't change the pattern, but I do like a starting point...to me its a tested and working pattern that is harder for me to mess up. 

  These are a combination of Modern Homemaker, Seaside, and Thrift Store from October Afternoon.  There are 2 vanilla colored 12x12 sheets for the tag backgrounds.

To be fair, 2 of the sheets have patterns on the opposite side.  

Pattern Paper

I narrowed down the theme to Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes.  Most of the images came courtesy of http://prettylittlestudio.com/.  They have some of the cutest vintage images and paper too!  I wanted to use old greeting cards, but I couldn't come up with 12 that I could use cohesively.  I already had these cards and now I had something to do with them.  I made a template and tags courtesy Cathe Holden at http://justsomethingimade.com/.  I also added 3 small sheets of solid colored paper to complete my 10 sheet total.

Jack and Jill are my January month image choice.  I cut the images out and picked my papers accordingly.  I used a 3 inch scallop punch to make the circle.

  The process of inking was taught to me when I took paper craft classes locally years ago.  Inking makes the image pop more. The finger dobber helps on curved surfaces.  When the paper is cut, a white edge is left, the ink adds an outlines affect.   Left is inked, right is not.

The tag on the left has been inked and the one on the right hasn't.

The extras included some old gummed stickers, millinery, gold tabs, vintage buttons, and cream twill.  The image itself is very busy and doesn't require a lot of enhancing.  These are things that I have on hand.  One of my favorite places at estate sales are desks.  They are always loaded with these great stickers and tabs...rulers and scissors too!

Jack and Jill are added with pop dots so that they are on top of the paper tag and truly the subject of the tag.  I added the button flower to Jill's hat and the orange flowers were cut out of the gummed sticker and added to Jack's hand.  The label is nestled in what looks like the tree.   Not intended, just a happen stance.  The gold tabs were added to the top to reinforce the ribbon and also over the back where I sewed the button.  I cut one in half.  I added the cut gummed sticker to the back of the tag below the tag hole to finish it off.  I was surprised by how little paper these took.  When you are limiting your supplies you are definitely more creative.

Thank you Elizabeth for the invitation to such a fun year full of creativity.  I cannot wait to see every ones ideas and learn something new.  I will be linking this up to Elizabeth's site on Monday, January 10th.