Tag Tuesday-Cooking

On Tag Tuesday this week, our theme is COOKING.

COOKING is a good theme for a tag for me, as I like cooking, reading cookery books, and using  cookery photos to draw from!

I decided on the theme for my tag quite quickly, as I remembered some scraps of fabric with fruit on, and thought they would be fun to use!  I stitched a "pavlova" from silk,  and decorated it with the fruit fabrics. I set it on a plate, made of card, decorated with ribbon, and a white background stamped with flowers for a tablecloth. It was photographed on my cookery bible, an old edition of Larousse.

"Pavlova" close up

I couldn't resist making another tag to illustrate COOKING, as I love this image from The Graphics Fairy (one of my favourite source sites) from a 1940s Printer's Book.

I coloured in the girl, using gel pens, and made a border from ribbon, lace and tape.

Tag Tuesday-Africa

The theme for Tag Tuesday is AFRICA this week.

My tag is inspired by photos of African animals sihouetted against the sky at sunset.

The background was made with an African type motif wooden block, printed in  black acrylic on orange card for dramatic effect. The central panel is made of felt with machine embroidery, and the animal sihouettes are made of black card.

Tag Tuesday-Eggs

 On Tag Tuesday this week the theme is EGGS.

 For my tag I have taken two images from The Graphics Fairy, one of a Victorian nest, the other from a page of European birds' eggs. I added vintage braid to the top and bottom, and printed card for the side borders. I stamped Eggs and EGGS onto the border, and finished off with floral beads.

Happy Easter to you all! 

Tag Tuesday-Schooldays and The Fantastic and Strange

              The theme for last week's Tag Tuesday was Schooldays.



I made a collage of school learning related pieces, and added a silhouette of a schoolboy by Kenner Road Designs, photographed on an exercise book.

This week's theme is Fantastic and Strange, and for my tag , I have gone with a Steampunk theme, using a stamp which has all sorts of strange things on it! I have added some top hats and boots  at the bottom, and a border of black ribbon and lace. The background is Indian handmade paper, which I painted with water colours. I thought photographing it on a bicycle wheel added to the Steampunk feel!

Tag Tuesday-Locks and Keys

The theme for this week's Tag Tuesday is Locks and Keys.

I am rather late with my tag this week. I have had such a busy time, during the past week I have been to Oxford, London, Somerset and Devon! Back home again now, and time to catch up with my tag.

I decided to do a tag about the Ceremony of the Keys, which takes place at the Tower of London every night at seven minutes to ten o'clock, without fail. It is a custom going back more than 600 years, and started in 1340. The gates to the Tower of London have to be locked to protect the Crown Jewels, belonging to the Queen.

I used a gelli printed background for my tag, adding images of the Tower of London,  Queen Elizabeth's crown (the Imperial State Crown) and a yeoman of the guard (or beefeater), and of course a raven. I wanted to print patterns using some real keys, but couldn't get it to work how I wanted, so I printed with acrylic silver paint and filled in the middle.  I photographed my tag on an official guidebook to the Tower of London.

A close up of my tag

 How I imagine Queen Elizabeth's keys to look, but I don't think hers are all rusty!

Tag Tuesday-Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers is the theme for this week's Tag Tuesday.

Well, we have had a real Spring here over the past few days, with

glorious sunshine, Spring flowers, birds, bees and butterflies all around.

 It couldn't last long, and today it is back to cold and windy-it's not

 raining all day long though, hooray! At the weekend we went 

to our favourite waterside cafe by the River Thames, now it is no

longer flooded, and sat outside in the sunshine!

This put me perfectly in the mood to make my Spring Flowers

tag. 

I used a stencil of cherry blossom and birds, and chose a black background to make the pink and green gel pens pop. The birds were collaged from flower paper, as they didn't stand out very well the first time. I added some sweet flower (card) buttons that I bought 

recently. The borders are made of floral and bee strips. For the outside frame I used green origami paper, which has images of rabbits and flowers on. I thought my floral scarf was a suitable background to photograph my Spring Flowers tag.

Tag Tuesday-Pretty in Pink

For my Pretty in Pink tag, I used an image from The Graphics Fairy, which I have been

saving for the right occasion. The charming ballerina, dressed in pink, is called Mademoiselle Zaine Richard. I have given her a backing made of hessian, and framed her with  tulle, decorated with pink buttons and sequins. I found a shocking pink bag to use as a backing for my photograph.