A Zany Tag!

Hello from Magpieheaven! Things have been all aflutter in the nest and consequently a little quiet on the blogging front. I've had a close friend from overseas staying, new students to tutor and several projects to catch up with on my washing-machine work-desk! Now it's time for a new challenge at the Dragons' Dream TIO and I think things might just be back to normal. Please click here to see the fabulous 'Dragons' Dream' inspiration from my team-mates this week! The recipe is chosen by the highly imaginative and creative Sylvia this time and it's to use the letter 'Z'; at least one real, stamped image on your tag - and the twist - a face! Here is my take on Sylvia's challenge.

I must admit I scratched my head a bit over this one! I have quite a few faces in my stamp collection, but I wanted to feature a word beginning with 'Z' and connect it with that face. Then it came to me: zany! In Renaissance, Italian comedy the 'Zannies' were clownish 'fools', there to mimic the other characters in the improvised Commedia dell'arte ! Humour changes so with time that I wonder if we would find their antics funny today? Now, of course, we've taken the word into the English language to mean any quirky or eccentric kind of humour. I collaged my own Zany character, using Lynne Perrella's Collection 003 for the hat and 013 for the face: these are both PaperArtsy stamps.

For my background I sponged with Fresco paints in Mermaid, Bora Bora and South Pacific. I then stenciled with a Prima stencil in Beach Hut. I edged my tag with some dry brushed Chocolate Pudding and French Roast. I then coloured some Grunge Paste with Spanish Mulberry and pushed it through a Crafters' Workshop harlequin stencil. I highlighted my diamonds with some Limited Edition Treasure Gold of a similar shade to the Spanish Mulberry and stamped the script from LPC0028 in Versafine Vintage Sepia randomly without a block. Now it was time for some zaniness.

I painted some card with Spanish Mulberry and stenciled using the flourish stencil and some Mermaid Fresco before stamping the LP hat on it. What could be more bizarre than a hat tilted up to reveal tiny shrink plastic leaves with faces floating up from the clown's empty head? I cut the SP using a Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die, painted them with a thin wash of Guacamole and then stamped with Black Onyx Versafine. The image is from LPC0028. I rather liked the way the leaf at the top comes to a point and makes the image appear as if she too is wearing a clown's hat! I finished off with some text, painted with Mermaid Fresco and punched out into a lacy pattern.

And it is quite outlandish to encounter a butterfly with wings covered in script! This giant butterfly was cut with a Sizzix die, a blend of Vanilla and Yellow Submarine Fresco. The script is from a PaperArtsy Mini stamp. I used the Tim Holtz Worn Alphabet to stamp my word onto a curled paper banner. The ribbon is dyed seam-binding stamped with a Lynne Perrella sun. The clown looks as if he or she might just break into a smile, or is he or she about to sing 'Give me sunshine in your smile'?  I can't wait to see your takes on the recipe this time. The tags that you link are always such an inspiration and the last challenge included a great variety of styles.  Wherever you are and whatever you're doing though, whether it be quirky, unconventional or fairly normal, I wish you sunshine - singing in the rain if you prefer that - and lots of smiles!