Wednesday 27 August 2014

Dreaming with the Dragons - Transport and the letter 'Y'

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven! August has been a busy month! As some of you may know, I've been working at my family of art dolls for Mary Jane Chadbourne's workshop for a lot of the month. Now, to my amazement, it's time to dream with the Dragons again! Last time it was my turn to choose the recipe and we had some highly original interpretations of Rust and the letter 'O'. We'll be announcing the Dreamboat 3 and Guest Designer very soon. Now for this fortnight's challenge! It's been chosen by the lovely Jax and she would like to see the letter 'Y' and the theme of 'Transport' on your tags! Please click here to see some of the fabulous ideas the Dragons have come up with! This is my take on the challenge!
I know this sounds weird, but I started with a couple of tea-bags, lovingly dried by my dear friend, Sue's daughter Dominique. Sue and her family live in Brussels and when she stopped off in London recently she handed over a collection of tea-bags and cardboard, courtesy of Nicky. The tea bags resemble tiny sepia leaves of tissue and they are great to stamp on. I stamped two images - one of the Artistic Stamper Gibson Girl and the other from a Hot Picks plate HP1206. As I looked at the result I thought how vintage they seemed on the tea-bag paper and my 'Y' word came to me - Yesterday!

This vintage car from PaperArtsy Hot Picks HP1206 seemed perfect for the theme of Transport. It reminds me of Jay Gatsby's car in 'The Great Gatsby' : so glittering and modern it is transformed from status symbol to a literal vehicle of tragedy in the novel. The transport of yesterday always seems so much more romantic than that of our own era, yet in Scott-Fitzgerald's novel there is a real sense of concern at the world of the nineteen-twenties hurtling out of control: fast cars, air travel, speed boats - where exactly are Gatsby and those who congregate at his fashionable parties rushing to and what are they running from?
I liked this Gibson Girl image, as she seems to be dreaming, contemplating 'Yesterday'. I stuck the tea-bags onto my tag with Satin Glaze and coloured them with Inktense. The safety pin is a rusted Tim Holtz one and I dyed some seam-binding with Distress Inks in Fired Brick and Vintage Photo before stamping the script from the new PaperArtsy Sara Nauman plate on it. The script on the tag itself is from Hot Picks HP1006. I had lots of fun using Grunge Paste through a stencil of bricks for my background and then scraping through Grunge Paste with a Catalyst tool to create a change of pattern too. Treasure Golds in rosy and copper tones helped bring a bit of warmth to the tag. I love the way that Fresco colours can have a vintage glow about them. For this tag I coloured my Grunge Paste with Caramel Fresco and then blended Brown Shed, Chocolate Pudding and Tikka Frescos with just a touch of Yellow Submarine in places. The little heart is a paper one from the Funkie Junkie Boutique with a fleur de lys charm and a faux chain created with Grunge Paste and Treasure Gold. There's also a sprinkling of Frantage in Copper and Aged Green and some little card tiles cut from a master-board and coated in Clear UTEE, edged with gold UTEE.

Thank you so much for dropping by today. I do hope you will get out those stamps, inks, paints and tags and join us in this fortnight's challenge. Remember your work should be some kind of tag and remember also to use at one real stamp and to incorporate the letter 'Y' and some kind of transport. Have a wonderful creative day whether you're in the sunshine or the rain!

17 comments:

  1. What you create transforming humble tags is always fabulous!
    This is wonderful in every detail...
    used tea bags are a wonderful ingredient and it feels so nice to give the papers another life (I have a huge collection dried and waiting to be emptied)...
    your stamping on the tag ribbon is also a great touch...
    do much to enjoy!
    oxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. A beautifully nostalgic tag Julie Ann. Love the brick texture and the warmth that you have added to it. The stamps are fabulous. Love the way that you have interpreted both images. The tag has a lovely dreamy quality and I love it. Xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oooh fantastic, love the lady and the car, very cool xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. gorgeous tag!! you always come up with such fabulous things for each of our themes!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's a wonderful tag, love the tiny yellow heart.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gorgeous sepia tones Julie Ann,another wonderful make from you :)

    Hugs
    Donna xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a beautiful tag!! I love the dyed and stamped seam binding and also the stamped tea bag!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Miss Julie Ann, this is soooooo delicious in all those fabulous blended paint colors and the textures, SQUAWK, stamping on teabags, ah, yes I just stamped a bunch of them at my desk, magpie minds think alike, loooooooove those letter tiles with the gold, meandering along the tag, looooove old cars and that lovely image with my favorite hairdo, gazing into yesterday, it wonderful how the tag really makes you feel that era, everyone scurrying along, trying to cram all they could in a day.and night, running from time, with the perfect topping with the stamped script and lovely colors...
    I can wait to dream with you dragons, transportation, hmm that's going to be a tricky one no stamps for that, love to have a barge stamp,, that's how I like to travel on the water :). I'll be putting my thinking cap on for this one, thanks Cuz for all the inspiration you exude with every single creation, I love how your mind works Miss Queen of details, have a wonderful week can't wait for the first, shsh.. (( ( BIG HUGS)))

    ReplyDelete
  9. Did you use square tea bags Julie Ann? I only have round ones but am drying them and using them on a couple of my projects, glad i am not alone :-)

    Stunning Tag as always, your two main focal images look amazing, great Y word too :-) xxx

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wonderful work!! Such a lot of lovely detail,texture and creativeness.
    Take care, Flo x

    ReplyDelete
  11. Fantastic tag Julie Ann! I love the idea of stamping on used teabags.
    Alison xxx

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh my heart was singing when I viewed your vintage tag because thoughts immediately turned to The Great Gatsby, one of my all time favourite books (is it shame on me that I have not managed to watch either the Robert Redford version or the Baz Luhrmann version) so imagine my delight for me to sit here reading your post and noting you make reference to said book!
    A beautifully stamped tag rich in detail and story telling qualities.
    Wishes
    Lynne

    ReplyDelete
  13. Amazing Tag Julie Ann! I love the vintage taste colours and textures, also you made lot of color mixed. Beautiful image of the stamps. I imagine however you are making crafts to how happily. xxx

    ReplyDelete
  14. Fabulous tag Julie Ann, I adore the fabulous texture & images..the blending of colours is just beautiful....Hugs May x x

    ReplyDelete
  15. So many things to love in this, Julie Ann. I am a great fan of the Gibson girls and the great Gatsby and that era. I love the idea of stamping on tea bags and hadn't come across it before. Great that you chose yesterday for your y word!

    Lucy x

    ReplyDelete
  16. A brilliant Gatsby tag - the car and the Gibson girl together summoned it up for me immediately too... and re: Lynne's comment above, I think one's much better off with just the book over either of the films!!

    Lovely vintage look, and such depth and texture in that fab leathery background.
    Alison xx

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow awesome tag, I love the vintage feel to it, and the texture is amazing. Kezzy :-) xxx

    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.