Dragons' Dream - Letter 'U' and a Quotation.

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven, where it's time to dream with the Dragons again! It was a privilege to see the beautiful tags you created for the last challenge - so much imagination with the colour 'red'. This time it's the turn of the very original and creative Gabrielle to come up with the recipe and she's chosen the letter 'U' and a quotation! Take a look here at the Dragon DT inspiration. There are some really inspirational quotations out there and I'm sure you'll find some that will be uplifting or thought-provoking. I apologize for a rather early Christmas themed tag this time, but I just had to start sometime - and this Christmas quote is definitely one of my favourites!

Robert Frost is one of my favourite poets and his words go well with this lovely Santa from the Artistic Outpost plate, 'Snowy Woods'. He seems both magical and human too as he trudges through the snow with his pack. This tag is in more muted colours after quite a brightly coloured canvas in my last post, but let's start at the beginning!

I began by sticking text torn from an old book about Christmas traditions. Now this always happens with me: I became very interested in what I was reading and spent a while taking in the text, then I ended up pretty much covering it completely with paint so that not a word was visible! Ah well, I know that it's there and I think that some of the facts about Santa influenced my creation!

I got completely carried away with brayering and stencilling in PaperArtsy blues and greens. I used a Clearsnap stencil of birch woods and then topped and tailed my tag with some scraps of die-cut master-board from my previous wintry project. I loved the effect, although I was sad that so little of the text was now UNSEEN!

And how often after falling asleep on a perfectly ordinary winter's night would I awaken to the magic of quiet, snowy streets. While I dreamed in bed, unseen by me, the snowflakes had clothed the dull houses and shops in glittery splendour and for a while all was enchantment! Similarly, however hard I tried to stay awake, Santa's visits were always mysterious. How did he manage to deliver all those presents unseen by eager children? To add dimension to my tag, I stamped snowflakes from card and used what was left behind to make a stencil for plain, white Grunge Paste. The shimmery effect of the Frantage is quite effective, but difficult to capture in a photo. I used a white Posca pen to create the effect of my letter tiles strung across the winter sky.

I stamped my AO Santa and quote onto white tissue with Jet Black Archival Ink, heat-set and tore and frayed the edges before adhering it to the tag with Satin Glaze so that it would blend into the background. I didn't paint the tissue at all, as I wanted the delicate colours of the tag to show through. I just used my Posca pen to highlight Santa; to create a little, rising crescent moon; bare, white trees and snowy roof-tops. This tag will eventually be for my old friend, Alison who loves the subtle colours of winter skies. Thank you so much for dropping by Magpieheaven today as we drift into November. I do hope you will be able to join in the challenge. Remember to include at least one real stamp on your tag and a letter 'U' along with a favourite quotation. You can use this as an opportunity to start your Christmas crafting if you like, but feel free to interpret the recipe any way you would like.