Tim's Tag - St Swithins

Don't faint....I'm here with another post.  I suddenly had a idea for Tim's July Tag - I had nothing to do his USA tag with but yesterday here in the UK  was St Swithins Day so I've gone along that theme.....and yes it did rain!  All details are on  Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015.

Whilst Tim did stars and stripes, mine is vaguely based on the design of a Union Jack so diagonals, triangles and red lines.  The Union Jack and the English Rose stamps are from Oak House Studio, coloured with Tombow markers and torn etc.  The words and 15th July are printed on the computer with the date attached to a fragment and then stripey crinkled seam binding to finish.

Thanks for visiting and if you leave a comment, then thanks once again - they are very much appreciated.

Elaine xx

Proud England

At last I've found some time to play so here is my postcard for The Craft Barn's Quotes and Lyrics Challenge where the words are PROUD and/or VINTAGE.

Lots of quotes and lyrics to choose from but I decided to go for the first song that popped into my head - Proud by Heather Small. I know the words are what have you done today to make you feel proud, but I've just gone for feeling proud about England ......and no, I don't mean football, it's more the English heritage, English rose etc.

The background is a swooshy mix of  Festive Berries and Barn Door  Distress Inks overstamped in Fired Brick with the Castle Icon stamps from Hero Arts.   The Union Jack and Rose stamps are both from Oak House Studio. The Union Jack is inked with Barn Door and the Rose is gold embossed and coloured with markers. It's just finished with Tim Holtz's Lion Rampant.

I've still got the last fortnight's postcard to catch up on but hopefully I'll get it done along with some Journal52 Challenge pages too.   Thanks for popping by and leaving comments - they are always much appreciated.

Journal52 catch-up!

I'm behind again with my Journal52 pages - it's a challenge on Facebook where each week there is a theme/idea to work with.   Week 15 is Party Animals and Week 16 is Recycled Art.

The top page is my recycled paper bag - my DH nearly got it in the recycling bin but I saved it, used the main image and added some Tim Holtz blueprint stamps to carry on the woodland theme.

The second one is my Party Animal.....well Owl really.  My most used Chocolate Baroque stamp which happened to be in proportion to the party/clown hat stamp from Paperartsy.  With the addition of the Oak House Studio Union Jack stamp and some hand cut bunting,  I decided to go for a party to celebrate St George's Day.....Enjoy!

British Life

Another card using the Decorative Diamond for the ONE STAMP event at Oak House Studio.

The Decorative Diamond is inked with Indigo Versacolor, clear embossed and then coloured with red Tombow marker.  I've folded 3 over some bakers twine to create pennants and used 2 either side of the sentiment.  To add to the red, white and blue feel I've cleared embossed the Union Jack stamp on the background.

ONE STAMP
Lynnda will be at the Oak House Studio all weekend crafting  for 24hrs with just this one stamp to show how versatile a stamp can be.  She might make a few cards, but she'll also be stamping on wood, glass, metal, silk etc.  If you are local (East Yorkshire) you are welcome to pop along to the Studio between 10am-4pm today or tomorrow and join in the fun.  Otherwise follow the event online, I will be posting here all weekend, the Design Team have projects to post on the OAK HOUSE STUDIO BLOG and others will be posting on the ONE STAMP page on Facebook.

Why not take a look at what we've been up to and leave a comment or two!!

London Calling

Here's my version of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2012 for July.   It's a great tag and I've copied the general design and colour scheme with blown alcohol inks etc,  but I'm from the UK so the subject had to change!!

I've gone typically British by using the Big Ben and Road Sign stamps from Paperartsy (Hot Pick 1208) stamped with Jet Black Archival.  The words are a PSX Celtic Alphabet - I've chosen London Calling (by The Clash) as those of you who watch UK TV will know, it's being used as the trailer soundtrack for the Olympic Games which start shortly.  London is calling all olympians to compete etc etc

 Just for a bit of variety I've stamped the Union Jack from Oak House Studios on the base tag to add to the colour scheme and finished with seam binding coloured with Barn Door and Faded Jeans Distress inks.

Hope you like my take on Tim's tag and thanks for looking. 

Crowns

Here's a quick tag for Hels Sunday Stamper challenge week 205 which has the theme of QUEEN and CROWNS.

The background is a mix of Stormy Sky, Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks over a stamped Union Jack. Now last week the background was stunning...this week, not so good so I've tried to cover it up. There are some Hero Arts Castle Icons under the words, the crowns are Maya Road chipboard ones covered with Gold Dabber and I've just finished off with some eyelash fibres. And yes, I have put RAIN rather than REIGN....it's pelting at the windows again!!

Not sure I'm too happy with this one but I'm not going to have time to have another go this week, so I'm going to post it anyway. In my head this was going to be umbrella man turned into a queen with a crown on his head, a red velvet cloak with eyelash fibres for ermine and a gold umbrella!! Now that would have been good but....... thanks for looking!!

Olympics 2012 & Union Jack

Here's another card for the Less is More challenge 56 using SCRAPS. I was watching the Olympic Rings floating down The Thames this morning and realised I'd stamped the rings months ago and not done anything with them!!


The rings were stamped with Journalling Circles and I just made the backgrounds using a variety of ink pads and brush markers on Oak House Studio's Union Jack palette stamp.

Whilst I had the stamps out I had a go at Kiss Stamping using Brilliance Inks but the photos aren't good. There is so much Union Jack material out there I went for the pinky/bluey colour scheme.


This last one uses the Mack Rose stamp and is more Cath Kidstonish!


Thanks for looking.

Queen

Here's my regal 'shield' for Hels Sunday Stampers Challenge 113 based on the Queen song Love of my Life.



It started out being based more on Queen with the Union Jack and Lion Rampant but I found some of Tim's tags so I managed to include Love and Life too. The background is Shabby Shutters and Bundled Sage and the stamping is Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy.

I didn't remember this song from the title but looked it up on youtube and now it's stuck in my head - thanks Hels! It reminded me how brilliant Freddie Mercury was - singing live with just Brian May on guitar and you could hear every word he sang. Now I think I must be getting old as most of today's bands I haven't a clue what they are singing about - the background overtakes the vocals and as for singing live, not many of them seem to manage it. Tell me you agree and it's not just me!!!

Anyway I'm off to listen to my Queen LP...oops CD!

Union Jack

It's St Georges Day today here in England - the day George slayed the dragon, many years ago I guess! Anyway I was looking through my stamps the other day and came across my Union Jack stamp - yes I know today we should fly the St George's Cross, but the Union Jack is the closest I have.


I just scribbled on the stamp with a blue and red Tombow marker - I know it looks messy but I think it looks great. I also used it on the ATC below as a background to the crown - very patriotic don't you think!


Bearing in mind the story I'm thinking it would make a great background to our dragon stamps .... yes, I know our dragons are chinese but .....
Anyway enjoy your day!