March Tag Swap

It's Spring!!! I am so excited! I am a bit sad the fireplace won't be used as often but I am psyched for spring. We started planting in our yard and the birds are driving Finn nuts! It is so fun to watch him growl at them. Adorable. It should be interesting when his girlfriend (the neighbor kitty) comes to visit him on the porch with the screen door instead of the glass. I will try to film some of these precious moments for more Finn Fridays!

I signed up for the March tag swap that Arlene is hosting on her blog butterflykisseswithlove.blogspot.com . Her youtube channel is mybutterflykisses12. She rocks! I wasn't planning on participating this month but when I heard the theme was Asian/Spring/Flowers (any or all of above!). I had to sign up! I just kept picturing how pretty the tags would be and I couldn't resist!

I found my inspiration from Asian screens. I always love them when I see them in catalogs. I decided to create a screen that held my tag. I wanted to keep the tag a bit whimsical so I added the panda and bamboo. I thought it was just too cute! Because the tag wrap was so elaborate I kept the tag fairly simple.

I always try to do something new with each tag so I decided to play with embroidery floss. I love the texture it adds! I also had so much fun with the Distress Inks. I am loving the new colors. My current favorites are pumice stone, crushed olive and chipped sapphire. I used both the pumice stone and the crushed olive on the tag and paired them with my favs from the old inks, peeled paint and Aged mahogany.

I used the emboss resist technique. I inked the tag first with Shabby Shutters because that is the color I wanted for the bamboo. I then stamped the bamboo with versamark and added clear embossing powder and heat set. If redoing this step I would have added another stamp with bamboo. I have a different bamboo stamp that if added would have made it seem more like a jungle but oh well, next time! I still like it as is! Then I inked over the tag with crushed olive and peeled paint! I love the effect. I added a tag using the Tags Happy #2 Sizzix die. I love how the pumice stone looks on this element and the edges of the tag!

I designed the tag wrap so you can either open the doors or just slide the tag out the top. You can also reuse the wrap for another tag. Journaling can be added to the back of the tag or the inside of the doors. I am loving this idea and I love how it turned out! I can already see this incorporated on a mini page! It was fun and pretty easy. If I just had one to make it would be a snap! I however made 12! I got pretty sick of the screens after the 8th or 9th one! LOL!

I hope the ladies in my group like what I came up with! I can't wait to see thiers! Check out my video showing how I created the screen wrap! (There is also a Finn cameo!) Thanks for stopping by!