Altered Tag Swap

A couple weeks ago, QueenBe (Carol) suggested hosting an altered tag swap. She sent out plain manilla tags to half a dozen folks, and our job was to go at them in any way we please, then send them back. I finally got mine done and sent off late last week.

I've had some ideas floating around for a while now to incorporate fabric into my collage work. At the very same time, Melange hosted a "Transfer Challenge" on their blog. I incorporated my fabric ideas into this challenge and did a homemade inkjet paper technique which I could also use for my tags.

To get started on my set of tags I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink on the tags, spritzed them with water, then let them dry. As a base, I adhered bits of sewing pattern with Golden's soft gel. As that dried I gathered an assortment of tidbits to complement a "seamstress" theme, including rick rack, lace, vintage buttons and measuring tape, pins, and pieces of button cards. Oh, and of course my mini images printed on cotton. I did a little sewing here and there for added interest, then toped it all off with gloss soft gel. (I wish I'd gone with a matte finish instead, but I'm still learning by trial and error.) Here's the finished result:

Now I'm just waiting for my assortment to come back to me... a pouch of pretty little presents from some of my favorite Etsy pals!

Entering the blogosphere

Well, I finally made it... I've jumped into the blogosphere. Waddaya know! This is definitely an ongoing work in progress. It's not very frilly, not at all techie, and maybe somewhat simple, but it's a good reflection of me. I hope to be slightly interesting, maybe a tad bit enlightening, perhaps even occasionally witty, but at the very least worthy of your visits. Who knows! In any case, I hope you stop by again. I'd really hate to be talking to myself so publicly. (In the privacy of my own home is bad enough; don't you think?)