An Oriental Magpie

I seem to say this every week, but not only did I play along with the Paper Artsy challenge this week when I thought I really wouldn't be able to, I was so inspired by Carol's projects, I played along twice!!! I thought the tag she created from Lynn Perrella's Asian collection was stunning. Please do look over at http://blog.paperartsy.co.uk/ . Here we are then, here is my guilty pleasure, another entry for the Paper Artsy Challenge! I have some of the Asian stamps, although not the same plate as this one was taken from. I haven't yet seen anyone interpret these images so I was keen to have a go. I love tags, but I can easily play away making them and then find I have loads that I don't know what to do with, so I decided to create a tag but incorporate it into a design for a card. Here is what I came up with.

I took some Smoothy card from Paper Artsy and sponged and dabbed at it with layers of Bora Bora, Mermaid, South Pacific and Limelight and I think there might be a bit of Hey Pesto in there too, possibly some Hyde Park - I got a bit carried away! I then swirled some very watered down Snowflake over the card to try to get a marbled effect. I used a Tim Holtz die to cut out my tag and - boo - I should have been more meticulous because the best marbling was left behind when the tag was cut out!! I so wanted to use this that I made it into a little tile, which I stamped with an LP border and added at the side of my card, accenting with some tiny green gems.

Years ago we had a shop nearby that sold those lovely little Chinese coins, but the proprietor retired and I used up my store so I covered a Tim Holtz die cut of a button with Treasure Gold and threaded through some black ribbon. I was really proud of my fish which I embossed onto some of the blue painted card. I used black glitter embossing powder and I love the way his scales sparkle in the sun - impossible to get the effect in a photo! Thanks so much, Carol for suggesting glittery fish and to stick them on with those little 3D spongy things!

I used a Tim Holtz swirly On the Edge die to suggest a wave and as my borders I improvised by using layers of punched out card. Talking about improvisation that brings us onto UTEE!!! I've never used this and it looked amazing on Carol's tag and on Sam's and Helen's! I had the idea that you always have to melt it in a pot and it's really technical and difficult to do. I must have been wrong and I'm now thinking of investing in some. Instead of this product, for now, I dabbed Versamark on the edge of my tag and embossed with ordinary gold embossing powder.

I then stamped my lady with Versafine Onyx Black and painted her with Frescos, Blood Orange, Snowflake and Vintage Lace with Hyde Park and Limelight. There are topaz coloured gems at the centre of the flowers.

I used some Core- dinations canvas effect backing paper, which I edged with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink. I embossed some characters in Detail Gold and added some seam binding distressed with Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers and Broken China. Inside the little frame is a detail of a Chinese lantern from some Graphic 45 paper.

Well, next week is half-term and I'm fluttering away to Stratford-on-Avon to catch some plays and be a tourist! How will I resist the temptation of grabbing strangers' lap-tops in cafes to catch up with what's going on in the land of Paper Artsy? Have a lovely weekend with - fingers crossed - glorious sunshine!