i love you, new toys!

---

Hi blogging buddies!

You know there is nothing like a new toy to get some creativity flowing and even more when it's a blog hop prize!

I've been drooling over some stamp sets over at Layers of Colors Boutique and I'm certain if I had some extra cash lying around I would buy every one of their stamps. Anyway, I happen to catch their Love Blog Hop on the 17th of this month and I was overwhelmed with gorgeous inspiration. I made a comment on every hop and that just so nicely entered me into a chance to win a stamp prize! And I did, yippee! The Floweret Cling Art Stamp was my prize on Diana's blog.

Now all about my tag, yes I was so inspired I tackled a tag with confidence. I wanted to just play with some different styles with my new stamp, so I grabbed a scrap of kraft paper to test an idea. It turned out so well that I used it as the main image and base of my tag. I first stamped with white ink and tried a No. 2 pencil for shading. I grabbed some paper pastel sticks to color around the image for a background and smeared it with a blending stump. To keep the pastel (chalks) from smearing more I sprayed it with a fixative. (BTW- if you haven't used a fixative before, it will make your paper and pastels look wet and dark, but it dries quickly and back to it's original colors. I've used it many times, but startles me every time I start to spray and see how dark it looks.) The scrap of paper I used had a double embossing from a Sissix Polka Dot folder at the bottom that I had planned to cut away, but then it looked nice with my test image and that's when my experiment turned into a shabby chic tag.

I did order some other stamps set that I'll show on some projects in a few posts from now, but I did use another one on this tag. The Love Chapter is stamped with Creamy Caramel on pattern paper from My Mind's Eye Tres Belle. I trimmed the top and bottom of the pattern paper with some scraps cut out with Tim Holtz' Bracket die and Martha Stewart's Eyelet Lace edge punch, tucking in a basic black PTI jar label for good measure. I framed the floweret image with some more polka dot embossed kraft cardstock by embossing on cardstock larger than the tag so I could position it down in place, then cutting it with the tag edge as my guide. The shabby flower was something I made last year and never used it on a project {blushing}. The flower stamen is a long piece of hemp twine that turns into a stem on the other side. I kept it on and just looped and glued it to the tag. I glued a organdy ribbon bow below the flower as all pretty flowers need one. The last part of the tag is a piece of muslin I stamped with the I Love You stamp and beneath it the verse reference from the "collage" stamp all found in The Love Chapter set. I hole punched the top and ran some cream grosgrain ribbon through it. That's pretty much it!

Have a beautiful evening or day wherever you may be, and as always thanks for stopping by.

Details:

Stamps: Floweret, The Love Chapter
Paper: Kraft, Basic Black, page from old quarterly devotional (flower)
Ink: White Chalk ink pad, paper pastels, a No. 2 pencil and black prismacolor pencil
Accessories: Blue Fixative Spray, Offray grosgrain, hot pink organza ribbon, MS eyelet lace edge punch, Tim Holtz Bracket die, Sissix Polka Dot EF, Nestabilities oval die, hole punch (flower - Marvy flower punch, hemp twine, Ranger walnut ink stain and vintage photo, daisy flower punch, MS glitter, Glossy Accents)

---