Hello! I can’t believe it’s March already and we’re on to the 3rd Tim tag of 2016. What a beautiful tag Tim made with those vibrant butterflies – love it! Those colors remind me of how spring looks with colorful flower beds full of annuals.
This month I had to make do with what supplies I had on hand. After two other attempts, here’s my version:
I had a really tough time with this challenge because I’ve had the longest creative dry spell ever, and I’m not that great with blending colors to begin with, especially vibrant colors. I had to use whatever gelatos I had and they certainly aren’t as colorful as the distress crayon colors in Tim’s tag. I ended up using 3 colors, watermelon, banana and snow cone. I had a mixed media die set in my stash, but the dies/patterns are smaller so it’s hard to make much of an impact with the colors.
I did follow Tim’s tutorial, but started with the mixed media tags since I knew I’d have a problem with the colors. For my background, I just used a piece of paper from the scrap pile…all 3 times. Two versions later and still with ugly colors, I didn’t want to just give up, so I decided to do the dimensional die cut and see how that went. Even that was a problem with my die choices, so I finally decided to try the bird cage with bird die. The size of the tag overlapped into the bird a little bit, but I knew I could cover that up with the bird. I placed the cut outline and bird cage on one of my gelato-colored discards, and the full bird cage was too much, so I cut it down. Later on I added 3 aqua rhinestones for some bling.
I used Gathered Twigs, Brushed Corduroy and Walnut Stain distress ink on the cardboard pieces. I didn’t have a Distress Spray Stain that I could use, so I mixed some Perfect Pearls Perfect Bronze with water and flicked it on with my paint brush. I had a dark brown color mist spray bottle, which was clogged, so I just used the sprayer end and flicked that color on as well. I added some of Picket Fence distress paint and then gold foil to finish up. I love the foil!
I liked how these turned out, which gave me the courage (LOL!) to try the colored pieces again. I chose a darker piece of paper for my background this time around because my previous choices were too light.
After appling gesso and using my heat tool to dry it, I started working on the colors. I blended it all with my fingers, but applied more after without blending to try and make it more vibrant. I did this 2 or 3 more times after taking the pic, because it just wasn’t as bright as I wanted, but I needed to move on.
When I attached everything together, I did try to make the bird cage bow out a little bit to add dimension.
Since I trimmed down the bird cage, I needed something to cover up the half holes on either side. I had some flowers in my stash, so I inked the paper ones with Gathered Twigs and painted on some Glossy Accents before dipping them in my jar of Clear Rock Candy distress glitter, just to add some sparkle. For the large flower, I added a small orange felt flower on top, then a pink pearl accent. I thought the big flower was fine for one side, but too big for both. I used the same kind of flowers, but cut them down and basically did the same technique, but made each one a little bit different.
Next, I made my bow. The crinkle ribbon and Paula bow was a new discovery for me last month, and I think it’s going to be a long love affair. Coloring my ribbon with the gelatos was challenging – I applied my colors to my craft mat, spritzed with water and started coloring. The yellow color really took over, so after drying the ribbon, I just applied the other colors one at a time…about 3 more attempts. Even then the other colors weren’t really showing up, so after drying and tying onto my tag, I applied more of the watermelon and snow cone gelatos to my craft mat, spritzed with water, and used a paint brush to paint color directly onto the bow. I liked it much better after that.
I used Small Talk stickers and word bands to finish it off. Here’s more pics of my tag. Sorry for the long post – thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave comments.
I would also like to enter this into the following challenges:
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/?p=4150 (Make Your Own Background)
http://blog.emeraldcreek.ca/2016/03/ring-in-spring.html
http://anythingbutcutechallenge.blogspot.com/2016/03/challenge-11-crazy-for-colour.html
http://www.4craftychicks.blogspot.ca/2016/03/challenge-289-7-layers.html (layers: tag base, patterned paper, mixed media dies, corrugated cardboard bird cage shape, corrugated card board bird cage, bird, small talk stickers, word band, paper flowers, felt flower, glitter, bling)
http://frillyandfunkie.blogspot.com/2016/03/lets-make-it-trio.html (3 flowers)
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2016/03/week-354-spring-is-in-air.html
http://die-cut-divas.blogspot.com/2016/03/something-spring.html
http://liveandlovecrafts.blogspot.com/2016/03/challenge-45-signs-of-spring.html
March 13th, 2016 at 4:43 pm
Marty, what a wonderful tag. You should be proud of it. The colours are vibrant and the design gorgeous……well done. Carol. xx
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March 14th, 2016 at 5:28 am
Thank you so much, Carol, I appreciate your comments!
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March 13th, 2016 at 5:15 pm
Your tag is wonderful. I don’t think the post too long – I think it describes your ideas and execution very well. It helps us learn new things. I especially like how you worked to make the colors in the background be more vibrant. The use of the bird cage and cutting it down is a great choice as well.
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March 14th, 2016 at 5:30 am
Thank you for your feedback, Lucy, I appreciate it! Glad to hear my post wasn’t too long, sometimes I get carried away and I think it’s also important to share the mistakes along the way – LOL!
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March 14th, 2016 at 11:00 am
This is just simply stunning!!! I love the colors and your design elements are perfect! Thanks for joining us at 4 Crafty Chicks this week.
Tina – 4CC DT
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March 14th, 2016 at 1:08 pm
Gasp!! So rustic and beautiful!! Great textures and layers. Thanks for joining in the fun at Die Cut Diva’s.
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March 14th, 2016 at 5:58 pm
Well considering you have had a creative dry spot, you have done an amazing job on your tag, it is really beautiful, I just love the wonderful colours and the birdcage was a great choice.
Thanks so much for joining in our Crazy for Colour Challenge at Anything But Cute. Anne DT xx
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March 15th, 2016 at 1:29 am
Oh, you can just smell the spring flowers when you look at your pretty tag, Marty! Amazing recovery from a “creative dry spot”! Thank you for joining our Crazy For Color challenge at Anything But Cute. Hugs! Sara Emily DT
PS Thank you for your lovely comments on my blog. They sure do make me smile! 🙂 🙂
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March 16th, 2016 at 1:03 am
Beautifully done. Gorgeous tag. Well worth the effort.
So glad you joined us at Die Cut Divas.
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March 16th, 2016 at 1:45 am
Oh how I love the layers to this one. what an awesome set of colours too. Thanks for playing over at emerald creek.
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March 16th, 2016 at 11:01 am
Gorgeous!! Love the bird cage, it’s very rustic looking. So vintage!!
Christina
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March 17th, 2016 at 1:55 am
Your sweet, creative tag packs a big punch! It is loaded with detail and elements that really bring it to life.Thank you so muchfor sharing your creation with us at the Frilly and Funkie Blog!
Hugs,
Nancy
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March 17th, 2016 at 2:47 am
What a beautiful spring tag! So vintage with a touch of grunge! Love it! Thank you so much for joining in our Crazy For Colour challenge at Anything But Cute! Branka DTx
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March 17th, 2016 at 12:49 pm
Lovely tag!
Thank you for sharing at Allsorts;-))m
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March 17th, 2016 at 5:11 pm
Thanks for joining Allsorts challenge with this great entry, good luck.
Happy crafting
Tracy x
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March 19th, 2016 at 12:14 am
Well you certainly smashed your creative dry spell with a beautiful tag – thanks for sharing
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March 20th, 2016 at 4:51 pm
Very pretty! It looks like the birdcage is illuminated!
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March 20th, 2016 at 5:44 pm
Thank you to everyone for your lovely comments – I truly appreciate it!!
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March 21st, 2016 at 12:13 am
Beautiful tag, I love it!
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March 21st, 2016 at 12:37 pm
Gorgeous tag! I love how you used the bridcage die layered over the mixed media dies. Stunning!
Thank you for sharing it with us at Emerald Creek Dares.
{julia}
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March 21st, 2016 at 2:29 pm
This is one of my favorites so far, love the bird theme! Works so well with the cardboard and your colors are gorgeous. TFS and hugs, Autumn
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April 4th, 2016 at 4:57 pm
Ha ha ha, see I’ve already been here – just didn’t put the connection. Again, this is a beauty my friend!
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March 21st, 2016 at 7:10 pm
My goodness – gorgeous!! Love the background to the birdcage…. I’d say you overcame your challenges brilliantly!! I need to use those Mixed Media dies, and this is fabulous inspiration, Marty! xxx Lynn
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March 21st, 2016 at 7:59 pm
Beautiful take on Tim’s tag! Such a clever idea to use the birdcage as the window to your beautiful background. Lovely design! Thanks for playing along with the Frilly and Funkie “Let’s make it a trio” Challenge!
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March 21st, 2016 at 10:19 pm
Gorgeous work!
Thank you so much for joining our Crazy for Colors challenge at Anything But Cute!
Samra DT
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March 22nd, 2016 at 10:38 am
Beautiful tag, love your take on Tim’s inspiration tag for this month. Thanks for joining us for our Emerald Creek Challenge.
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March 24th, 2016 at 1:53 pm
I absolutely love your tag!!
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March 24th, 2016 at 4:01 pm
Congratulations on your Top Pick at Emerald Creek Dares! So well deserved! Hugs!
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March 24th, 2016 at 4:03 pm
I’m trying to follow you, but not having much success. WordPress won’t load for me. 😦
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March 25th, 2016 at 3:19 pm
What a fun take on Tim’s tag. I love how you shaped the birdcage so it looks dimensional. The colourful ribbon and flowers are great against the brown of the birdcage. Thanks for joining us at Anything But Cute.
Hugs!
Cec
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March 26th, 2016 at 8:08 am
Hello….Marty…I am lovin’ you bird cage tag….Your tag is really striking with all the detail! I am in love with the details peeking through the bird cage! Yep….a TWEET TAG! LOL….LoVe!
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March 28th, 2016 at 4:28 pm
Congrats on your lucky win at F/F, too! Wow! And now I feel a Tim win coming on!
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