Wednesday 10 September 2014

Die Cuts and the Letter 'J' - Time to Dream with the Dragons again!

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven. It's once again time to dream with the Dragons, as we prepare for the shorter Autumn days and all the challenges and new beginnings that come with this season. Our daughter is flying the nest to live with her student friends and I have new students myself starting their tuition in English Literature 'A' level with the new school year. The Dragon recipe this time is chosen by the very talented Elizabeth and she would like us to use die-cuts and to include a letter 'J' on our tags. As always she would like to see at least one stamped image on your tag. Please do take a look at all the inspiration over at The Dragons' Dream TIO here.
I've been playing with Autumn colours recently, but for this tag I left them behind and went for the idea of flight, probably those thoughts about Matilda starting out independently. With the end of summer birds migrate to warmer climes and these little Artistic Outpost girls look to me as if the smaller one is being taken to school for the first time by her older sister. I love these little Artistic Outpost girls and I should like to link up with the Artistic Outpost Challenge here. I love Artistic Outpost and this month the design team would like us to show them our artwork created with Artistic Outpost stamps.
With this tag I knew that I wanted to explore the idea of spreading our wings and heading off into the wide, blue yonder! This gave me the perfect excuse to create a master-board with lots of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Blues that I could then die-cut with my decorative strip dies. I used a Tim Holtz die of swallows and also his chipboard alphabet. The arch is also a Tim Holtz die and the two little girls are from Artistic Outpost. I also used the sentiment from this plate: 'A person's a person no matter how small.'
I coloured the stamped image with Inktense pencils, stencilling my background with a Rebekkah Meir doily stencil and accenting my blue-birds with Treasure Gold.
My choice of word for the letter 'J' is Joy, die-cut from my master-board. Autumn is a season of mingled joy and sadness, but possibly the greatest joy for me is that it is the season when both our children came into the world. I love the poetry of William Blake, especially this from his 'Songs of Innocence' -
                                  

Infant Joy

BY WILLIAM BLAKE
I have no name 
I am but two days old.— 
What shall I call thee?
I happy am 
Joy is my name,— 
Sweet joy befall thee!


Pretty joy!
Sweet joy but two days old,
Sweet joy I call thee; 
Thou dost smile. 
I sing the while 
Sweet joy befall thee


Thank you for stopping by Magpieheaven today. May 'Sweet joy' befall you as we enter this Autumn season and may you rise to meet every challenge! Do link up with the Dragons' Dream TIO here too. Remember all you have to do is to create a tag using die-cuts; include the letter 'J' and at least one stamped image.

19 comments:

  1. Oooh i am loving your quote from Dr Seuss and in the film Horton Hears a Who, it is one of my favourite cartoon films.

    Your Tag is beautiful Julie Ann, so full of layers and textures. Good to know you love Autumn for personal reasons and that it brings joy to your heart :-) xxx

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  2. Ooooooo gorgeous tag Julie Ann, Elizabeth xxx

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  3. Wonderful tag,Julie Ann,beautifully created as always,this is one of my favourites from you :)

    Hope you are well

    Hugs
    Donna xxx

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  4. Love your joyful tag, and yes, how funny we should both pick the same word! I love those birds, you obviously have more luck than I do with that die!

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  6. Sorry that posted kind of odd. I just love your tag and how you used the lovely AO girls. You may want to link this up to Artistic Outpost's "Show us your AO Art" challenge for September.

    http://artisticoutpost.blogspot.com/search/label/Referral%20Program

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  7. Oh what a lovely poem! And what a gorgeous tag! You have done those little girls proud!

    Lucy x

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  8. What a great tag!! love the little girls stamp and that quote is fabulous (and true) lol..trting to catch up on all the blog posts I've missed but fighting a losing battle I think lol xxx

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  9. OMGosh- how sweet and adorable!! I love your tag- your colors are beautiful and your children are sooo sweet! And your birds flying above and off the tag- perfect compliment! xoxo

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  10. Hello Miss Julie Ann, already wow, time does fly by, I really love this tag, those sweet images are one of my favorites, Miss Tracy is always using them, I'm in love with those 2 sweet girls, and they do look like they are on their way to school, but that master board, I just keep looking at it, its a fantastic background and those birds flying all around, fantastic, love the dolie behind, it is truly glorious, your creations always bring me joy, thanks for sharing, I can't wait to dream with the Dragons, hope you have a wonderful week, ((( BIG HUGS ))) Cuz..

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  11. Lovely--you know I saw this on fb, but I like your tag even more now, after reading your post!

    :)

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  12. Absolutely gorgeous!!!
    Have a great weekend Julie Ann!
    Alison xxx

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  13. Wow you have been busy, so much to look at on this tag - gorgeous xxx

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  14. It is such a beautiful notion, the theme of flight especially how it relates to you personally with your daughter starting out on her own journey.
    Beautiful use of the die-cuts, there is such a feeling of emotion exuding from this very special tag and the most wonderful stamp selection.
    Wishes
    Lynne

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  15. Commented already but I see blogger ate my comment! I loVe this! The background to that fab image is awesome! Chrisx

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  16. Beautiful tag Julie Ann! Lovely doily background, fab birds and innocent children, all wonderful pieces. Sorry slowed comment xxx

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  17. Beautiful Tag, I love how you added color to the children! Thanks for supporting the Show Us your AR Art Challenge!

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  18. Wow your tag is fabulous, I really love the background and the birds look amazing. I hope Matilda is doing well in her own place, I'm sure it's a big step for both of you. Kezzy :-) xxx

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