Sunday 15 December 2013

Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas Number 3 - Take 3 Kings

Welcome to Magpieheaven! I am still enjoying my journey through Linda Coughlin's 12 Tags of Christmas, the details of which you can find here. There is still time to enter, as Linda has extended the deadline to January 8 and adding two extra 'thank you' tags: if you complete the Challenge you could win the draw, or discounts on products from the Funkie Junkie Boutique - click here for details of all the goodies on sale. The tag that inspired me today can be found here and it's Linda's #3. Before I entered the Challenge I admired this beautiful tag and some of the superb interpretations of it. I loved the billowing robes of the angel and the silhouette of the Magi , and Linda's starry background, which must have been even more gorgeous in real life! But I have no Wise Men in my small collection of stamps; only one very tiny angel and - I thought - no stars! This was going to be quite a challenge! What I do have, though, is a 'Lost Coast' image that suggests 'angel' to me.
We don't know, for sure, how the Angel who appeared to the Wise Men in their dreams might have looked. In Wim Wenders' beautiful movie, 'Wings of Desire' the angels watch over the city of Berlin, passing by unnoticed in their dark overcoats, listening to the thoughts of the commuters on the metro as they go about their daily lives. In every age ideas of angels have changed:  maybe angels pass through the crowds in busy cities with messages to share if we are willing to listen, or step in to lend a hand when life is tough! Here are my winged messengers and my take on Linda's tag.
I wanted to create the idea of the sweep of the Angel as it fluttered down to intervene in the human world, so I painted some card with Paper Artsy Fresco Finish in Antarctic and Mermaid and then stamped the same Lost Coast image on it with different inks and paint: Cornflower Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink, South Pacific Fresco clear embossed and silver embossing. I frantaged over parts of the wings to suggest a touch of snow  as the Angel flutters down. For my background I used Baltic Blue Fresco with three snowflakes from the Snowy Woods plate embossed with Wow white embossing powder. and a sprinkling of Wow to suggest snow.
There are also three punched out snowflakes. On each of my card snowflakes there is a sprinkling of a little embossing powder to symbolize gold, frankincense and myrrh, the gifts the Wise Men brought. The white snowflakes are to suggest the Magi themselves. If you remember I said that 'I thought' I had no stars...but right at the bottom of my box of bits I found these little blue and silver stars.
Finally I added this sentiment from the 'Snowy Woods' plate. I stamped in Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil Archival onto my card painted with Antarctic and Mermaid. I would like to have used the beautiful 'Noel' from Linda's tag, but I had nothing remotely like this. This quote from Frost's poem reminded me of the long journey the Magi took just to see a tiny child born of obscure parents. They kept their promise to the Angel too, returning a different way so as to avoid disclosing the child's whereabouts to Herod. My tag, then, looks very different to Linda's yet the same inspiration, the Journey of the Magi has led me on a quite different visual journey. Thank you, once again, Linda for this challenge, which has me digging deep into my stash and into my imagination! And thank you, my visitors for dropping by at this busy time. 

14 comments:

  1. As always Julie Ann a stunning interpretation of the Tag you are making.
    The colours & textures are sublime, the images are believable. I like where your brain goes & creates it must be a wonderful place to visit:-) xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this Julie Ann..a beautiful tag!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have been fascinated by the your winter tag recently. This is gorgeous! I have learned lot of things and I'm looking forward your project.
    Etsuko xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful take on the inspiration from Linda's tag... Your repeating angel is wonderful fluttering down to intervene on earth through the dark night sky - a really beautiful tag!
    Alison xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. love the angel and the colours you have used, you have done a fab job.cxx also wanted to say a huge thanks for the kind words you left on my blog, they meant a lot xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just had a quick look through your latest tags, must be keeping you busy, you've certainly pulled out all the stops, they're all gorgeous. Love the sprinkling of embossing /myrrh on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow wow wow absolutely gorgeous tag, I love your interpretation of Linda Tag, and the way you have made the angel look like it's swooping down, truly awesome. I love the colours you have used and all the little details that go with your story, so beautifully done. Hugs Kezzy :-) xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a beauty Julie Ann! Love what you have created here. Well done.
    Hugs
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gorgeous tag, your angels are lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Simply stunning! I do love your interpretation of angels Julie Ann, so creative!
    Alison xxx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful tag Julie Ann just beautiful!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh JulieAnn, this is divine. I am totally enthralled with your tags and the way you have a woven lovely Christmas stories throughout. The way you have designed your angels here is brilliant. Beautiful colors and textures and your sentiment is wonderful too. I'm so happy that you are able to take inspiration for your lovely work from my tags.

    Hugs,
    Linda

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great layering of the stamped image, love the different grades of colour

    Sam xxx

    ReplyDelete
  14. A very interesting concept with the angles fluttering down to the earth. The quote from Robert Frost is perfect. Beautifully done!
    Sandy

    ReplyDelete

Due to high level of spam recently I have enabled comment moderation on this blog, so any comments will be moderated before appearing on the blog.