FOCUS on Tags - Friends with Flair 5-22 (maybe...)

"Cats, by means of their whiskers, seem to possess something like an additional sense; these have, perhaps, some analogy to the antennae of moths and butterflies."                                                                                        -----------Reverend W. Bingley


Hi, Friends......
I am here with another project for Jennifer Grace's Focus Your Craft and Soul blog event.  There are still a couple of days to get your comments in for the giveaways and your projects in for the challenges.  The deadline is 10 pm BST (British Summer Time) on Sunday, May 24, 2015.  That is 3 pm Mountain Daylight Time on Sunday for those of us who think better in USA time zones.  (THANKS, Em!!)

I gathered inspiration from two of Jennifer's projects involving tags:  Tags that Draw Attention and Art in Miniature.  I also wanted to combine this challenge with this week's Unity - Friends with Flair Link-up, but they seem to have closed early for some reason.  Maybe they are on British Summer Time, too, today!!  lol...

For these tags, I used a wonderful product called Brusho.... concentrated water color crystals. It was new to me when I first heard about it on Faith, Hope, & Crafts.  Mandi made some gorgeous projects using Brusho for her backgrounds (Squeeeeeal....You know how I LOVE backgrounds!!) and I was IN LOVE!!  Then, guess what....she had a giveaway (that included a pot of Brusho) and I WON!!!!  Talk about being thrilled!!!  So I wanted to use them for my FWF project today, since that's how I met Mandi....but now FWF is closed early...oh, bother!  (Anyway....THANKS A MILLION, Mandi!!)

Here's how I made my tag backgrounds.  First I completely drenched a piece of watercolor paper (under the faucet in my kitchen!!) and then set it on a flat surface.  While it was still wet, I sprinkled Brusho crystals on it.  This product is super-concentrated and I used way too much.  It looked too "undersea" for this project.  After it was dry, I got a second sheet of watercolor paper wet and laid the first one face-down on top to transfer some of the excess pigment.  LOVE!!!!  The pebbly look is from the two textured surfaces only partially contacting each other.  Love that, too!!!  Then I needed to make the paper into tags....it was kind of scary, but I cut these shapes all by myself.  lol....  (You don't know how much I depend on pre-cut tags and die-cuts for making things end up the right shape!!!  This was a big step for me!!!  Ha.)

The butterfly is from a Unity - Antique Butterfly Itty Bitty.  I stamped it on a scrap of glossy paper background I had in my stash. (YES, it was from this whipped cream experiment!!!  Hahahaha!!!  I still have some pieces of those backgrounds, but I slowly am getting them used.  lol...)  I stamped two images with Smokey Gray Tsukineko - Versafine Ink and then fussy cut them out.  I mounted them on foam squares and lifted the wings a bit for dimension. 

The sentiments are from Unity grab bags.  :)  I stamped them each with the same ink as the butterflies. 

I finished the tags with some ribbon and thrift store yarn...that I just got yesterday!!  On one of them, I loosely braided the ties for some variation and on the other I left them loose.  I had to fight the urge to add more "stuff" to these tags, but I am trying to follow Jennifer's theme of Focus....so I kept them simple.  With the artsy background and butterflies, they seem busy enough, anyway.  What do you think?

Hope you like my project!!  I had so much fun playing with my new Brusho and trying some new things with old stash.  :)  

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NEW FOLLOWER INTRODUCTION TIME!!!!
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I would like to welcome Em Louise Fairley of Creative Em.  She's a Stampin' Up gal, so you know her work is going to showcase some amazing products!!!  I love the project she has up front and center right now with the gorgeous card and coordinating envelope.  I need to try doing that!!!  Thank you so much, Em, for becoming a follower.  This ginormous new-follower smile is what spreads all over my face when I see a new person on my sidebar:

:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Hey, I am another step closer to that 100 mark on my Google Friend Connect followers.  I better get ready for a giveaway!!!!  Woohoo!!


Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I appreciate all your wonderfully supportive comments.  Have a lovely weekend!!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering these tags in the following challenges:
1.  Jennifer Grace Creates - Challenge to be Inspired Linky Party  Inspired by the Tag Projects
2.  Unity - Friends with Flair Link-up Except link-up closed early!  lol...
3.  Pixie's Snippets Playground Week #177  Just playing for fun this week.  :)
4.  City Crafter Challenge Week #262 - Inky-nes"S" - Use one or more inky techniques listed.
5.  Craft Stamper Take It Make It May Challenge - Take a Stamp