Saturday 2 June 2012

It's getting harder ............

to find themes for the Chocolate Baroque Alphatag Swap, lol!

Hello Everyone,

Just a quick post from me (instead of my usual waffle, lol) (EDIT : I should have known better than to put 'quick post' ......... I think I've managed quick about twice since I started the blog, ;o)) to show you the tags I finally managed to come up with for the letters J and K.  Nearly all of us contributing to the swap had trouble finding suitable themes to represent the letters.  I not very good at finding clever themes and usually have to stick to either a stamped image that starts with the letter or a technique that does.  Heaven knows what I'm going to do when we get to X, ;-)!

Anyway, here is my J tag.


For my J I used the word JOY from one of the Chocolate Baroque Christmas stamp sets and also used the Jacobs Coat technique on the background.  I have to say it is one of my favourite techniques but when I was having trouble thinking of a theme it was my buddy, Judith, who reminded me of it so thanks Judith.


I tried something new (although someone's probably done it before) with my Jacobs Coat technique.   I used Pan Pastels to create my pastel (no pun intended) coloured background and then stamped my favourite Chocolate Baroque script stamp from the Antiquities plate in black Archival ink before stamping my floral image in Versamark, clear embossing and finally covering the whole tag in black ink and buffing with a piece of kitchen towel.

And here is my K tag. 


For my K tag the theme was Kaleidoscope of Butterflies, Kraft card and Kraft Glassine.  I cut my tag from a sheet of Tim Holtz Kraft resist paper/card choosing an area with the lovely scrolls on and then blended the gorgeous new Spring limited edition Distress Inks over it.


 I then stamped some lovely Chocolate Baroque butterflies onto Kraft Glassine paper and used a brush to colour them with the same Distress Inks.  I gave them a quick blast with my heat gun and then attached them by their bodies to my tag.  As usual, I sent the tags off and didn't write down how I made them so some of this is guess work but I think I spritzed the tag with some Glimmer Mist ........ something like my favourite Dew Drop because it's so subtle and finally I added some teeny little gems and a pin and butterfly charm to the ribbon.

Well, that's my tags for this month and I have to say inspite of struggling with themes I am enjoying this swap and the tags I'm receiving are all gorgeous.  I will do a post, maybe at the end, and show all the ones I have in my alphabet.

I'm getting rather excited now because on Tuesday I am off to spend a few days at my lovely friend Judith's home together with my other two precious buddies, Jo and Elaine.  It is very rare that all four of us can be together and we've all had a fair few trials and tribulations since the last time so this is going to be quite special for us all (I think I'd best make sure the Kleenex are handy, lol).  We are looking forward to lovely afternoon tea and cake, lots of crafting, some craft shopping, maybe a little sightseeing but most of all lots of lovely chats and a good hug.

I hope you all have something nice planned for this weekend, even if it's only watching the Jubilee celebrations on TV.  I'll be back in just over a week's time with my next Snazzys DT project.  Hope you'll come back then.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

22 comments:

Rebecca said...

Glad this was only a short one Lesley! LOL beautiful tags I must have missed the j one on the CB site somehow love them both.

Happy craftin
Rebecca

Rebecca said...
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Rebecca said...
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mamapez5 said...

I think that was a very imaginative choice especially for the 'K'. lovely tags as usual.
Have a great time with Judith and friends.
Kate x

Netty said...

Both terrific tags Lesley. Enjoy the weekend, Annette x

Kathryn said...

It was hard work this month lol fabby tags though xx

Aquarius said...

Two very pretty tags and I'd be hard pressed to choose between them - this is all a bit of a challenge month by month but there are some beautiful tags appearing. Enjoy your get together

Paula Whittaker said...

fab tags...really like the first, working on the black just makes the piece pop.
Hope you have a super break away x

Suzanne C said...

Gorgeous Jacob's technique... I too forget about it and yours is stunning. Lovely Kaleidescope! The visit sounds wonderful and so happy for you! Glad to hear about your good news! As for "X" immediately I thought of the xylophone and why couldn't you use that as your design for the tag? Than each little scrap would have something different and coordinating? :)

veronica said...

two lovely tags Lesley, esp like the J one! I never thought of Joseph's coat when wracking my brains last month - and a very crafty way out for k too. as for X -it is 10 in Roman numerals, so I may be going with lots of numbers that month...................
Hope you all have a great time in a currently soggy and grey Norfolk

Astrid Maclean said...

Both are totally gorgeous Lesley!! I think my favourite is the bottom one though. Hope you are going to have a fabulous time with your crafting buddies!!

snazzyoriginal said...

Love the Jacob's Coat tag, really stylish oriental look. So glad you are getting away for a crafty break with Judith et al. Give them our best and enjoy xx

Jean said...

I love both your tags Lesley, but I think my favourite is the Joy one, because I love the pastel colours, it's so pretty.Jean x

Miranda said...

Hi Lesley, lovely and beautiful artwork as I am used of you! Love the JC technique, must give that a try sometimes and I wish you 4 a super fine and great day together! Can imagine the kleenex.....LOL warm greetz Mirandax

Beryl said...

Beautiful tags Lesley - esecially the first one with the Jacob's coat technique. No one would ever guess you had any problems with inspiration for the tags. Fab work.
Enjoy your break.
Beryl xx

Suzi B said...

Hi Val, these tags are fabulous! I'd be stumped if I had to do this!!
Have a lovely buddy/craft day on Tuesday. I've been at my sisters in your neck of the woods for the w/e.
suzi b xx

Christine B. said...

Hi Lesley absolutely gorgeous tags . I hope you and the gang have a lovely crafty time. Love and Hugs x ChrisB

Paula (PEP) said...

I love your Joseph's Coat - so different from the one I came up with & I must admit that I love the subtleness of the PanPastels - I'd wondered if you'd used that. I'd not thought of stamping using script under the embossing so that's one to file in my head for later. I was so excited when you said you were doing Joseph's Coat too. The K is an absolute wonder........ I've never used the Glassine so maybe it's time I dive in! I too love this swap as I'm learning so much. Have a lovely time with the rest of the Quartet.
Paula (PEP)

May said...

Fabulous tags... I cant choose a fav as both are Simply Brillant.. I am not sure how I have missed your blog in the past.. so as not to miss your fabby makes in the future.. I'm your newest follower.. Hugs May x x x

Sally H said...

Fabulous tags, Lesley! I love them both, but I think the first is my favourite - just gorgeous! Sorry it has taken me a while to get here. Thanks for your email! Great news x

Lynne K said...

Wow, these are gorgeous, Lesley! Butterflies are always a favourite with me, but the Jacob's coat one is just stunning. I must try it, when I've got myself some Pan Pastels! (Going down for the Doncaster show on Sunday, so they'd better have some there!)

Hope you're having a lovely time with your buddies,

Hugs, Lynne x

G Peplow said...

Hi Lesley, These are fabulous, the pop of the black background highlights the gorgeous colours underneath on your first tag and the second has colours that are just scrummy, love the bling too, Gay xxx
p.s thank you for your supportive comments, you're very kind, Gay xxx