A Sea Of Greens. . . . . . . .

The new challenge over at the Artful Times blog is to make anything with the theme of 'a sea of greens'. This was a very wide remit and I had to think for quite a while about this one! I wanted to incorporate a range of greens in a background and in the stamping that I added to or on the background. I enjoy making backgrounds and was also eager to use some new stamps which I had bought at the wonderful Alexandra Palace show which I went to with my sister Sandie. We had a fab day and couldn't believe it when we were told the show would close in 15 minutes!

Back to the challenge before I go off at another tangent! I decided to make a tag and put as much texture and interest into the piece as I possibly could. That way, using just greens would not become monochrome and boring! (Naturally, I couldn't just stick to green and there is some glossy accents in there too!).

I also like to show my work at Simon Says Stamp And Show. Their latest challenge is 'anything goes' so my tag would hopefully fit that remit too!

So, here's what I used and how I made my tag:

The elements I made to construct my tag. The beaded pin is by Prima - I couldn't resist buying a set of these! Clearly, some elements are already partly made here - I forgot to take the photos at an earlier stage!

The finished tag - the photo is a little dark I'm afraid! The tag was put through an embossing folder, coloured with Distress Inks and Dylusion Ink Sprays and some details were embossed using silver detail powder. I chose this embossing folder because I believe it matches the 'headdress' in my stamped image. The colours on her face aren't as good in this photo as they are in real life - they range from blues through to green and although pale they are very ethereal.

Here you can see the stamped face which was coloured with distress markers and a water brush. The frame was stamped with a background stamp and then inked with Distress Ink. The edge was embossed with detail silver powder and then the frame was covered with glossy accents. I like the way the ink under the GA seems to glisten. Some of the leaves were die cut and then inked, the others were stamped onto inked paper and cut out. All the leaves were embossed on the edges with silver detail powder. Some Walnut Distress Ink finished the edges of the leaves and tag. I added the red elements so the greens stood out. The leaves were flicked with water to add an aged appearance.

This image shows the embossed silver ring around the tag hole and I added a small silver charm for extra detail. This is similar to part of the stamp image which I removed in order to fit the face into the frame. The ribbons were added to soften the tag. The 'brads' on the frame were embossed with the same silver detail powder used elsewhere on the tag.