Dragon's Dream - Blue and the letter S

Hello and Welcome to Magpieheaven, Friends and Followers. Thank you so much to my new followers for joining me, it's really lovely to have your company too. It's been a busy week with Guest Designing for the last time at PaperArtsy. Now it's time for another Dragons' Dream Challenge: do click here and see what the talented Design Team have come up with to inspire you.  I love the recipe that May has chosen, she creates such beautiful projects. Her recipe this time is to create a tag that features the colour blue and the letter 'S'. As usual the design should include at least one stamped image. The entries for last time's letter 'Z' and a face were fabulous so I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Blue said 'water' to me and the soft, sibilant sound of the letter 'S' suggested gazing deep into still waters to 'see' who knows what? I  worked with a Jumbo tag this time, tearing some pages from a vintage dictionary and a book of Longfellow's poetry and sticking them to the tag with Matte Medium. The background was painted first with PaperArtsy Fresco in Antarctic, then Mermaid, and birds were stencilled through a Stencil Girl stencil with Beach Hut before I stamped some script from a PaperArtsy mini in Cornflower Archival. For depth I added some Hey Pesto translucent Fresco Finish. I wanted to create the idea of seeing the birds on their branches as if they were reflected in water. Water plays so many tricks on our eyes that we begin to wonder exactly what is reflection and what is reality!

You might just be able to see here how the text shows through. I first saw these glass nuggets used by Alison Bomber on her 'Words and Pictures' blog. I stuck them over some of the Hiawatha poem - a section where the young Hiawatha goes fishing, so the watery theme continues! I love the way that the glass looks like water droplets. The eye is from a Tim Holtz, 'Stampers Anonymous' plate. I stamped it over some card painted with Antarctic and then sprayed with Inky Pool and the corners are curled and accented with Treasure Gold. In Green Amber. The tiny frame was Gessoed then given a touch of Green Amber Treasure Gold too. I also sprinkled lots of Shabby Blue Frantage and Gold UTEE to add to the impression of gazing into the watery depths. The Frantage and tiny gem inside the frame might be minute pebbles or jewels from an ancient treasure chest. And, of course, there had to be pearls!

For my central image I stamped this Lynne Perrella lady onto Smoothy Card painted with a blend of Mermaid and Tinned Peas. I painted the circles so that they resembled bubbles. The feathers are stamped with Watering Can Archival by Wendy Vecchi. With the addition of tiny gems and the golden skeleton leaves my tag reminded me of the treasure from some galleon that has been hidden in the depths of the ocean for hundreds of years. Is it an illusion down there, a trick of the light and shadows or precious treasure?

Seam binding dyed with Distress Inks in Peacock Feathers and Broken China and some blue waxed thread to attach the Lynne Perrella banner complete my watery tag. Thank you so much for stopping by Magpieheaven today. I do hope you'll return soon and that you'll be linking your own tags on the theme of Blue and the letter S over at the Dragons' Dream Tio.