Paper and egg shell mosaic tag

I joined a tag swap on AFTCM where we had to make a tag with at least some green and use a paper mosaic technique.  I really like doing embedded paper shapes so I decided to use chevron punchies (SU) for the background of my tag.  After punching a variety of green chevrons from scraps I created a cardstock layer using a variety of green strips and then glued the chevron punchies onto the background in an orderly fashion.  To emphasize the chevron motif I embossed the background using a chevron embossing folder.  Because it is a tight design it embedded my chevron punchies very nicely into the background.  I punched the left hand side with my scallop border punch (SU) and cut a large black tag that it would fit on.   I have been wanting to try out the egg shell mosaic technique so I dug out a heart from my die cut stash and covered it with glue and egg shells - a little bit at a time.  I used white eggshells but am now thinking that brown eggs shells would give a very nice effect as well.  I left my mosaic to dry overnight and coloured it using red alcohol ink.  I thought it needed a bit more depth so I added red reinker and combined the two using alcohol on a cotton swab.  Once that was dry I sprayed it with hair spray to seal it and give it a nice glossy finish.   Once my heart embellishment was dry I started working on a layout.  Decided to add a strip of sheet music below the heart - it needed to be sponged with a bit of antique linen Distress ink to soften its look and highlight its torn edges.  I glued my heart on with double sided tape and moved on to my quote.  I used a set of alphabet punches to create my quote and used a fine tipped glue bottle to adhere them to the tag.  I added an ornate key charm next to the quote using a mini brad.  I added some handmade washi tape to the top of the tag and tied on four lengths of 1/8" ribbon.
Very happy with how it turned out and I love the texture and depth in the egg shell mosaic heart so I will be using that technique again!!

Therese

Card making with my granddaughter

 My eldest grand daughter was visiting for a few days and we made some cards!!  She is an avid crafter and loves to make cards.  I dug out basic supplies - cardstock, my stash of extra images, a few greetings and we got started.  Whenever I craft with her, I commit to using supplies she can manage, so we used coloured pencils on our images, decorative scissors and scissors for distressing our edges - a technique I taught her in a previous cardmaking session.  This time I decided to introduce the Big Shot and embossing folders.  She informed me that she uses embossing folders at home in the Cuttlebug so she felt comfortable with them.
For my first card, I coloured my sunflower image with coloured pencils and added a bit of a background while I was at it.  I trimmed the edge using "Deckle" decorative scissors, layered it onto a yellow rectangle which I distressed with my scissors.  I mounted this element to my embossed card front

 and added a colour printed greeting which I embellished with coloured pencil.

My second card features black and white decorative paper which we found on the inside of a used envelope when we were shredding paper for papermaking.  I coloured the image with colured pencils, added faux stitching to the edges with a fine tipped Sharpie marker and layered it over my decorative paper which is layered onto black and adhered to a white card front.  This image is from Beccy's. I left some place on the bottom in case I decided to add a greeting over and above the quote provided with the image.

 For my third card, I coloured my flowers (SU) with crayons, added some texture to the background with a green pencil crayon over the blue I had originally used to colour the background.  I added faux stitching with a Sharpie, layered it onto yellow and distressed the edges with my scissors.  I adhered my image to my blue embossed card front using 3D foam tape, added a strip of yellow cardstock below it and mounted my laser printed greeting over it.  This card is already winging its way to the US as a RAK to a wonderful lady getting ready to celebrate her 90th birthday.

For my last card, I lightly coloured this golfing image and added lots of colour to the border so it would pop a bit.  I trimmed it with "deckle" scissors, glued a greeting to the bottom edge and layered it over strips of green and black cardstock that simulate ribbon.
We had such a great time and did a wide variety of activities - went for walks, did some baking and cooking, made a few cards and lots of small sheets of handmade paper, played with Lego and Jenga blocks.   She is a wonderful little girl and I am fortunate to now live close enough to have her visit.  We will be doing it again!!

Therese