Layered tag... and a change of plans!

Hi and welcome! It's Saturday and although I should have been winging my way up to Birmingham for the ICHF show the weather has put paid to our plans :/ but thank you Scrap 365 for the tickets, it was a great prize but just not meant to be this time around!

My post this week is my old favourite, tags of course!  This has more layers than I care to remember :) I nearly chucked it away!  I was persuaded to keep on adding layers (thanks K!) and I like the way it came out :) 

I used a vintage image at the bottom of the tag, some torn paper on the edges, some tissue tape and just layers and layers (and layers and layers - you get the idea!) of Distress Ink and Distress Stain.  The stamps are mainly Stampers Anonymous but I have some Andy Skinner text in there, and some butterflies from Craft Stamper magazine :)

 Yes, I managed to catch some rare sunshine in this pic and couldn't resist sticking my tag right in the beams!  Always love how everything looks that bit different in the sunshine :)

Don't forget to check out our Twitter, Facebook page and Facebook chat group to see if you're a winner of a RAK for Craft Month this March... it could be you!

Have a great weekend and wrap up warm :)

Happy scrapping!

Gayle xx

Butterflies and CHA

Hello and hope you're having a good weekend!  It dawned on me that I hadn't made a tag this year yet so I thought I'd better get some practice in :) This tag uses Distress Inks and Stains for the background and the small butterflies (which are from a Martha Stewart punch) and the stamps are an IndigoBlu set called Sarah's Choice.

 The buttons and large butterfly were just floating about in my stash, although I think the butterfly might have been a spare for a project I made at a workshop!  Always worth hoarding things til later ;)  for example, the clip in the centre of the butterfly is from a Scrapagogo kit.

 Our Scrappy Tree girl Kristin is going to be tweeting live from CHA on Sunday, so keep in touch with us through our Twitter account and let us know what you want to see!

Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting!

Gayle xx

Bag and tag

Happy weekend!  I have something a bit different to share today; I made this bag and matching tag as a birthday present and I know it's been received now so I can finally share it :)

This was my first attempt at sewing on a zip so hopefully it stays in one piece(!) ;)  The flower is made from a long strip of fabric folded lengthways and sewn along one edge, and then the stitches were pulled tight to ruche the fabric; it was then rolled up to make the flower shape.

The tag uses Andy Skinner's Nature set of stamps, and the colours are Distress Inks and Stains in greens, oranges and yellows.

I've also posted at The Stamp Attic today - slightly addicted to the snowflake rosette die!

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend, we are going to spend this afternoon putting up our tree :) excited!!

Happy scrapping

Gayle xx

Thankful for Thanksgiving

Hello TST!  Soooo loved the Thanksgiving posts last weekend, hope our US friends had a wonderful time :) I am posting today with an autumnal thankfulness themed tag because even as a Brit, how can you not join in :) I was very lucky to be nominated by my TST companions as a honorary American so I decided I need to indulge my love of pumpkin and make something autumnal to show my gratitude for the honour (honor!)

I had shortened this tag for reasons unknown (suspect I needed the bottom piece for something else!) but I wasn't going to let that stop me ;) I coloured the background with yellows. oranges and red (some of my favourite colours) and stamped the images on top in black Archival and blue and red Distress ink.

The flower is a combination of Alterations tattered florals and tattered poinsettias, with a brad centre and some marmalade Distress stickles.

The centre flower is a paper Prima flower in its original colours; I felt the blue matched the background colours so used it as a centre piece.  I also wanted a caption to bring everything together so I typed one out on my Dymo :)

I've also posted at The Stamp Attic today so I'd love to hear your comments if you have any :) hope you've had a wonderful weekend :)  I am off to a Melt Art class tomorrow, hopefully I will come back with some lovely things to share!

Gayle xx

Purple haze

Morning! Happy Friday to all :) I have a tag to share with you today; I realised I hadn't made a paper rose for a while and this tag needed something extra ;)

The saying is from an Andy Skinner stamp set with some flowers stamped in the background...

 The colours are Distress Inks in purples and some Peeled Paint (green), and I think the base colour was antique linen.  The rose is white card cut from the Tattered Florals die and coloured with Shaded Lilac and Dusty Concord Distress Ink.  I added some icicle Stickles to the rose and tag to accent, and added black lace and purple DCWV ribbon to the tag and finished off by tying some crinkle ribbon through the top which I coloured with Dusty Concord.

I also posted at The Stamp Attic today, lots of lovely snowflakes!  Here's my sneak peek :) let me know what you think!

Hope you have a great weekend ahead, I am off to the Carnival tonight! woo hoo :)

Happy scrapping

Gayle xx

Love and layers

Happy Friday!  I have a tag to share with you today; admit I went a bit OTT with the layers on this tag so not entirely sure which stamps I used!  But the main image is Crafty Individuals, and the LOVE stamp is from a Tim Holtz set.  The dragonfly I stamped and cut out from the original stamp, then coloured and outlined and glued back on to the tag.

The colours are mostly blue and yellow Distress inks and stains, with tarnished brass Distress Stain in the background and stamped on top, with the main images stamped in black Archival.  The ribbon is a scrap from the large jar of bits and pieces I keep on my shelf :)

I've also posted at The Stamp Attic today (yup I have Christmas DT supplies!) so if you want to see more than this sneak peek please pop over to the blog and say hi :)

Thanks for visiting today!  Have a great weekend, happy scrapping :)

Gayle xx

Sssh! It's a secret...

Ok, I have to admit, I saw the little Prima key in the glass box and I totally started singing 'The Key The Secret' by Urban Cookie Collective (very cheesy nineties dance tune!)

I layered up some tissue tape, some magic mesh, Andy Skinner and Tim Holtz stamps and added some lace, Stickles, sprocket and spinner, red ribbon, a Prima embellishment and a Dymo caption. Phew! sounds like quite a list :-D

I've also posted at The Stamp Attic today, and would love for you to visit me there too :) here's my sneak peek!

Collage tag

Hello and happy Friday!  I've got something a bit different to share with you this week (yes I know it's still a tag!) - this week it's completely without ink!  What's this I hear you say?  Well, I was having a rummage in my boxes of scrappy stuff, which has been somewhat neglected of late due to my ink obsession (oops!) and I found some magic mesh and a K& Co collage pack and all sorts of lovely goodies :)

I added some butterflies punched from glassine with a strip of gold Stickles in the middle; I think my favourite one is sitting on the little peg :)

Please excuse the photos, afraid my camera ran out of juice before I got all the pics I wanted! Typical :)

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, hope you get some scrappy time!

Gayle xx

Razmatazz!

Good morning! Happy Saturday! :) My tag to share this week has this lovely Wendy Vecchi top hat by Blossom Bucket, I really liked the thought of adding a bit of razmatazz to to my tag LOL

The background stamp is from the Stampers Anonymous Remnants set, with some masking tape underneath which I stamped with a background from their Steampunk set.  Lots of lovely layers of inking, topped with some picket fence ;)

I added some film strip to the top and bottom with some gold Stickles, and a pin, bingo piece and button from my stash (not sure where they're from LOL) and some red ribbon.

I also posted at The Stamp Attic yesterday (here's a sneak peek) so stroll over there and leave me some love if you like it :) thanks!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Gayle xx

Steampunk tag

Hello and happy Friday! My tag to share with you today is just ridiculously layered LOL I was having so much fun I just kept putting them on there :-D

So it's probably easier to list what I used rather than trying to explain what I did!  The background is fired brick, spiced marmalade and scattered straw distress ink, with some ink sponged through a Creative Expressions sequin waste mask and edged with some frayed burlap.  The other images are stamped in black archival ink or saddle brown StazOn.  The stamps are Tim Holtz, Inkadinkado and 7gypsies, with some doodling in white Posca pen.

I loved how the three gents looked raised up off the paper on foam squares when I went to a workshop at The Stamp Attic so had to try it again at home :)  They're inked with Old Paper Distress Ink to make them look a bit aged.  I also added some Andy Skinner-esque studs to the top of the tag for decoration.

I am also posting at The Stamp Attic today (here's a sneak peek!) so please call by and say hello :)

Happy scrapping and have a great weekend :)

Gayle xx

A quick tag and some happy news!

Hi and welcome to Friday!  I have a quick tag to share with you today using some of my favourite colours and some Andy Skinner and Paperartsy stamps.  The background was inked with scattered straw, spiced marmalade and fired brick Distress Ink (yes I am obsessed with these colours!) and then stamped in black Archival ink with stamps from Andy's Nature stamp set.

I splattered some fired brick Distress stain across the tag, and sprayed some iridescent gold Glimmer Mist for a bit of shimmer.  I added a stamped clockwork flower from Paperartsy and a few small flowers punched from manuscript paper (plus some orange and gold Stickles for sparkle!).  Just can't resist playing with those sunset colours!

Sooo..... I'm really excited to share some news with you today that I've been keeping to myself for a little while now - I'm joining The Stamp Attic design team!  The pic below shows a sneak peek of my first project for them...

...and if you'd like to see more, and you like what you see, I'd love for you to visit The Stamp Attic blog and leave me some love :) thanks!

Happy scrapping and have a great weekend :)

Gayle xx

Spring Distress tag

Hello and happy Friday! I have a tag to share with you today using the new Spring Distress Inks - loving these colours!  I used all three on the tag, Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feather and Shaded Lilac.  

I stamped the background image first from the Tim Holtz Remnants stamp set using black Archival Ink and then just added Distress Ink and water in layers on top.  I also added some ink splats with broken china and scattered straw Distress Stains, and shaded around the edges with aged mahogany Distress Ink to give it a border - I liked how this made it look almost rainbow coloured.

 I stamped the 5c stamp onto card and punched out the circle with a 1" circle punch, and then coloured these with each of the new Spring colours.  I outlined them with white Posca pen to make them stand out and then stuck them down with foam pads so they were raised.

I coloured some crumpled ribbon with broken china Distress Stain to match the tag, and the caption is a saying I found on the internet by Ralph Waldo Emerson which I printed out on my Dymo.

Thanks for visiting us today, hope you have a great weekend and get to have some creative fun :)

Gayle xx

Happy NSD!! TST challenges

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!  I'm sure a lot of you will be spending today making/crafting/scrapping :) We're joining in the festivities with a few little challenges of our own  :)

Firstly, as mentioned in yesterday's post, you have until midnight tonight (California time to give everyone a chance!) to decorate a tag, take a picture and either leave a link to it in the comments to this post, or e-mail it to us at 'thescrappytree' (at) 'hotmail.com - we have some prizes to give away, so join in if you can!!  It can be decorated in any style you prefer, using any supplies you have to hand, but it must be finished today!

Our second challenge is going to be running for a little longer - this week is also National Postcard Week and what do you do with postcards? You send them! The challenge is to decorate a postcard (measuring approx 4"x 6") in a style of your choosing; you can embellish to your heart's content if you prefer, but it must fit into an envelope.  Let us know that you're finished and we'll sort you out with a swap partner!  We love getting happy mail here at The Scrappy Tree and we hope you do too!  You have until midnight on Saturday 12th May to finish your postcard and get in touch with us either here in the comments section, via e-mail at 'thescrappytree' (at) 'hotmail.com, tweet us on Twitter, or message us through Facebook - you can message TheScrappyTree or contact us at our Facebook group.  


Happy scrapping! xx

Inky layers

This one took a while to dry between layers! LOL
Again I used my new favourite Distress Stains(!) for this tag, in broken china, fired brick and picket fence, but what I really loved about this tag was the top layer of stamped script in picket fence which I stamped on top of the other layers - the Distress Stains go onto stamps really easily to give a painty effect when you use them.  Bring those background stamps to the foreground!

I started by building up a really messy inky background, lots of layers of Distress Stains and spritzing with water and just generally making a lovely mess :) I added the central image (one of my faves! Steampunk Debutante by Graphic 45) and a few background images; Tim Holtz chequers stamped in fired brick Distress Ink and Tim Holtz grids stamped in saddle brown StazOn.  The script stamped in picket fence Distress Stain over the top is also a Tim Holtz stamp - love how it stands out against the dark background!  I went around the edges with vintage photo Distress Ink and voila!  Grungy inky mess with lots of layers :) the most fun!

I also wanted to share a tag made with leftover ink! lol!  The tag below is the sister tag to the one I blogged in last week's post here; after spraying vibrant turquoise Dylusions ink through the Creative Expressions compass mask, there was still ink left on the mask itself so I pressed it onto this manilla tag to get a fainter outline of the compass design.  I sprayed once or twice with the Dylusions ink to give some more colour, and outlined parts of the design in baby blue Stickles, which made the ink bleed a little - liked this effect!  I added some Tim Holtz tissue tape to the top and bottom and stamped a small Fancy Pants flourish in broken china Distress ink at the top, and then went round the edge of the tag with broken china to finish it off.

Thanks for visiting!  Stay scrappy :)

Gayle xx

Distress stains and spray inks

Good afternoon and welcome to the weekend!  Today I have some tags to show you using distress stains and spray inks, both of which are fairly new to me but I love them! :)

This first tag uses broken china and fired brick Distress Stains (plus a bit of water sprayed on and some inky fingers!) for the background, with flourish stamps for the large flourish at the bottom and some Tim Holtz stamped script and chequers in the background (stamped with fired brick Distress Ink and brown StazOn).  The butterflies are plain die cuts that were coloured with fired brick Distress stains and stamped with flourishes, with the body coloured with black Posca pen. 

 The Distress Stains are delightfully messy and I can't wait to get some more colours!

For the tags below, I used Dylusions spray ink in vibrant turquoise for the tag on the left, and a broken china Distress Stain for the tag on the right, through masks to make the backgrounds for the tags.  The Dylusions ink works really well; I've tried a few spray inks but they haven't really worked the way I expected; well this one did! And the colours are awesome :)  The brick mask is a Prima one, and the compass mask is by Creative Expressions.
For the brick tag I stamped the birds, tree and rushes from Andy Skinner's 'Nature' stamp set using black StazOn and then added vintage photo Distress Stickles to the rushes.

For the compass tag, I added a strip of Tim Holtz tissue tape and then embellished with some eyelets, some vintage photo Distress Stickles and some die cut cogs which I painted using the techniques from Andy Skinner's class a few weeks ago (really enjoyed that!) - see here for the blog post.  I wish the sun would come out, those rusty brassy colours look great in the sunshine!

Andy is giving away some blog candy this weekend, so make sure you visit his blog to be in with a chance of some goodies!

Have a great weekend, stay scrappy! :)

Gayle xx

Girly vintage tag

So.... I'm not really sure where this tag came from!  I'm not usually one for girly or pink but was playing with this K&Co oversized tag one night and this is what happened!  I added a vintage image, some pink and white buttons, vintage lace, a Prima flower, Tim Holtz key and some ribbon, and embellished with some sparkly Stickles and some small pearls.

I'm slightly at a loss as to what I should do with this girly tag, so if anyone would like to offer her a home, please let me know! ;)

Hope you're looking forward to your weekend, I know I am!

Happy scrapping ;)

Gayle xx