TAG TUESDAY - Keeping warm and cosy!

  I hope you are all keeping warm and dry, and are not affected by the floods.

My ‘tag’ this week may seem a little out of season!  Last week I bought a lovely set of vintage irridescent egg cups all in their original box.  As these are going to be a Christmas present, I decided to make a Christmas egg cosy for my KEEPING WARM tag.   

I have used green fabric with stars on for the outside and red fabric with tiny green stars for the lining, with a layer of wadding in between. On the top there is a loop of Merry Christmas ribbon.   This will make sure that eggs for breakfast on Christmas morning will be lovely and warm!  

I was really disappointed with these photos, it has been so dull here today, but too late now for another photo because both egg cups and cosy are already wrapped up! 

Bye for now,

Jane xx

MUSIC TAG

On Tag  Tuesday we have now nearly gone through all the seasons, so it seemed appropriate for this week’s MUSIC theme to choose Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ for my tag. 

In 2010 I went to see ‘The Four Seasons By Candlelight’ performed by The Mozart Festival Orchestra.  They captivate the audience as much with their traditional 18th Century costumes as with their wonderful music.  I love all those wigs, lacy cuffs, velvet tail coats and breeches adorned with braid and lace.  I used a photo of the orchestra on one side of my tag.

On the other side is the title of the show on a background of leaves which seemed to go so well with my tags of recent weeks. I added leaves in various colours ranging from the fresh yellow-green of Spring,  through to a snowflake covered leaf of winter (cut from an old Christmas card).   One leaf is cut from the Four Seasons sheet music!

I have trimmed the tag with some hand embroidered antique broderie anglaise and some braid to echo the trims of the costumes. There is a tie of black and white ribbon which looked a little like musical notes.

I made my tag and started writing this post on Tuesday, but when I was selecting the photographs I realised I wasn’t happy with it and started again this afternoon.  My tag is now eight layers deep in places!  But I think I am happy with it now!

Thank you for looking

Jane xx

BROWN & SEPIA TAGS

For my first tag I took tiny snippets from my brown fabric box,  and stitched them to a fabric tag to make a little sampler of  machine and hand embroidery stitches.  I have added an odd earring and a flower from an old embroidered jumper.  The edge is finished with buttonhole stitch in variegated brown thread.    I enjoyed stitching this tag because the various bits hold such memories! 

 I have photographed my tags against the sepia-coloured silk from a Victorian embroidered parasol.  This was too beautiful to make into a tag, but I am so grateful for the opportunity of rediscovering it in my box of browns.  

 Creepier Sepia!

My second tag was made a few weeks ago using my rusty tie-dyed calico.  This piece looked like a spider’s web; all it needed was a spider!   This one is definitely Brown Bread (Dead)! Unfortunately he is a bit shrivelled up now!   I am a bit of an arachnophobe and this is the closest I have ever been to a spider!   I know friends from hot countries will think this is a pathetic specimen, but he’s big enough for me!

On the back of the tag are some leaves die-cut from the same fabric.

Thank you for looking,

Cheerio for now, Jane xx

CELESTIAL TAG

On the day after Bonfire Night in the UK, my CELESTIAL Tag just had to include Fireworks. 

Using black ‘rub& reveal’ board, I have scratched on the surface to create colourful fireworks in the night sky.  I have also included words that evoke the shouts, sights, sounds and smell of a November sky: flash, boom, whoosh, smokey, fizzle, sparkle, bang, wow,  and whizz.

The tag is trimmed with beaded black ribbon, star charms and a silver tie.

Bye for now

Jane xx

HALLOWEEN it's a kind of magic!

In the chill of a late October morning, my tags remain shrouded in darkness; but hold them in your hands and something magical happens! 

As the tags slowly warm in your hands,   striking contrasts of orange and purple, black and white start to emerge.  Suddenly before your eyes the full moon emerges from the mists of time,  illuminating the sky and pumpkins below.

The tags become fully visible when  brought close to a fire or other heat source, I used a heat tool.  But as the heat fades, so does the magic and the pumpkins return to their twilight world, once more shrouded in darkness.

I’m no scientist,  but I used to work for a pioneering  company in the Research and Development of Thermochromic Liquid Crystals (pigments that change colour with the temperature.)  I was really surprised to find that nowadays you can buy TLC paints on e-bay!!

I made the first two tags by using thick handmade purple paper as a base. I cut a hole for the full moon, with white card behind, then attached die-cut bats, pumpkins, and the word October.  Next I painted over the whole tags with black thermochromic paint (ZuperPaint from KILABITZZZ).  I used silver ink, applied with pen and brush for the writing.  The tags are completed with a silver ribbon tie.  When the tags are heated to 37 degrees the black thermochromic paint slowly changes to transparent, revealing the colours underneath.  As if by magic!

 Here’s Bailey relaxing with our pumpkin harvest that we picked in October!  Can you spot what might be the smallest pumpkin in the world?

Bye for now,

Jane xx