Some tags and a bit of a ramble...

Hello friends, thanks for taking the time to drop in here! Today I am finally sharing the tags I made for my altered file folder that you can see in detail HERE

I actually made some more tags still, but I thought sharing just these 4 with a little detail was probably enough for one post......

As each of these tags has an image of a child on them, I want to dedicate them to the issue that has been on my mind almost constantly these last two weeks or so. The issue I am referring to is the one of what is happening in the United States around the separation of asylum seeking parents from their children. Of course I know that Trump reversed his policy and promised that the children would be returned to their parents. Well that was over a week ago and there are still more than 2000 children separated from their parents and no clear plans of how and when they will be returned. Thinking of these poor children and their parents makes me feel sick to the stomach, - I just feel so helpless in the face of this. If only I could give them all wings, like I did with some of the kids on these tags, so that they can fly back to their parents. Oh and by the way, all of these were created well before the horror of this tragedy broke in the news...

Anyway, sorry for the ramble and on to the tags....

This one is a size 8 tag that I ran through one of Tim Holtz's 3D folders. Next I coloured it with a mix of Distress Oxides and normal distress inks and to give it a bit more definition I then added just one spritz of Distress Spray in Ground Espresso.

I then took one of the paper dolls, paper pieced a hat and some wings on him and collaged him onto the tag in addition to some strips of washi tape. The final step was to add some shadow around him with a Stabilo All pencil.

The background to tag number two was created with the help of Distress paint, gesso, background stamping and stencilling with archival ink in Hickory Smoke.

The girl is a Paper Whimsy image that again I gave some wings and collaged onto the tag together with some fussy cut roses from one of the Prima collections plus some more washi tapes etc.

Tag number 3 again was run through a Tim 3D embossing folder, coloured with Antique  Linen and Vintage Photo Distress ink and some Distress Spray spritzt through a stencil. The little girl is of course another paper doll and the other collage elements were either stamped or cut from Tim Holtz paper collections.

The final tag is a size 10 tag. I started by stencilling with some Decoart Crackle paint. When it had crackled I added colour with Antique Linen Distress Paint, some Vintage Photo Distress Spray, some Decoart Antiquing Cream and some Ground Espresso Distress Crayon. I did some stamping around the edges and then finished it off with yet another paper doll and a couple of Tim die cuts plus some other bits and pieces from my collage box.

I love the effect of the crackle paste through the stencil. The darker shadows around the boy were created with the help of a brush dipped into the Ground Espresso spray bottle.

Well, that's it for today. I hope I have not upset anyone with my political ramble, I know I have quite a few American visitors and I firmly believe everyone should be allowed to their own opinion, so if some of you feel that what Trump did was right, I won't hold it against you.

Thank you for your visit and continued support

xxxxx