Challenge Tag

Had a nice play yesterday making my challenge tag - the word for this one was SPEND as I went to Hobbycrafts at the NEC on Friday and there I did indeed spend!

On this tag I have taken a new approach to my inking - usually I pick three similar colours and ink the whole tag with the palest colour, ink about an inch in from the edges with the middle colour and then ink the edges with the darkest colour, then I blend them all together using the palest colour again on top.  Here I went for pot luck and picked out five handles from my bag of distress ink foams and used those colours randomly all over the tag, and then blended them together with a medium shade ink - I am really pleased with the results!

The colours I used were Milled Lavender, Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick, Tea Dye and Pumice Stone - usually none of which I would have used together.  I inked them randomly on the tag, blended them with the Worn Lipstick and then used plum perfect pearls over the top for the sheen - again picked randomly from my *ahem* small collection of perfect pearls - and again a colour I wouldn't normally have used on these inks.  Then for the challenge I used:
S - Stickers - the little birdies labels
P - Punch - the Martha Stewart vine leaves which are inked with Peeled Paint and Brushed Corduroy
E - Embossing - the tree which is inked over with Peeled Paint
N - Number - the Number 2
D - Diecut - Here I have used two new sizzix dies that I bought on Friday - firstly the big bird which is a sizzix die and the wing is from a Dylusions stamp set and the birds nest and birdy are from a Tim movers and shakers set - the nest is actually a birdcage but I trimmed it down to look (I hope!) like a nest.  All die cuts are inked with Brushed Corduroy, Pumice Stone and Spiced Marmalade to match with the tag.

The stamped image you can see underneath was an accident - I started the tag off using a Glitz background stamp (again a new purchase on Friday) to make a totally different tag but changed my mind (as I so often do!) half way through - by then though I was on a roll and the light was fading so I didn't want to start a new tag - yesterday it was a lot paler so I thought I would get away with it but been photographed today in the daylight today has made it a lot clearer! Oh well. Oh and I finished the tag off with bling for the birdies eyes, glossy accents on the number and some hemp for the string.

Also this week I have knitted two scarves and done my class for the crop next month - it uses the fabulous Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe range - check back later this week as I am waiting for better weather to photograph it.

Thanks for looking :)