Tuesday, December 13, 2011

On Your Birthday Gift Tag

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  What If We Just Sit?
Have you ever watched little sandpiper bird foraging on the beach?  They skiddadle this way and that - bobbing their heads up and down, searching for food.  That's the way I've been feeling in the craft room this morning (I'm writing this post at 12:30 pm on Monday).  I sit down to create and next thing I know I've jumped up from my chair and I'm skiddadling into the kitchen to find something to munch on.  Or I'm skiddadling to my computer to check email - bobbing my head up and down - searching for something - although I'm not quite sure what.  So I'm wondering...what if I just sat?  What if, when I don't know what project I want to start next - or I don't know what next step to take on the piece I am working on - I just sat and waited 'til my next move or thought arrived?  My uncle, who is a sculptor, shared with me that he gave himself a 30-day challenge awhile back - to create a single piece of sculpture every day.  He would awake every morning, do some yoga, eat some breakfast, and then make his way into his art room.  Some days he would have a thought in his head about where to begin.  Other days, not a clue.  Either way, he would show up in his art space and commit himself to being there.  If not ideas were waiting for him, he would just sit...maybe handling some of his materials or staring around at his supplies - until inspiration or his creative muse took over.  Some days the wait was longer than others.  No offense to the sandpiper intended, but maybe I need to just sit and not skiddadle...I wonder what I would find if I did...
Today's tag began with a vintage manilla tag.  I sprayed the tag with mixtures of ink and water that I placed in small spray bottles.  I used a piece of hardware tape as a mask while spraying to create the grid-like pattern.
 I then sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip and Early Espresso ink.  Next I stamped the dotted image from Extreme Elements with Early Espresso and the star from Varsity Numbers with Riding Hood Red ink.  The birthday greetings from On Your Birthday were stamped with Early Espresso.  Finally, I cut a few pieces of cheesecloth and sprayed them with ink, let them dry, and then tied them onto the tag.  Tags are a great way to add a wonderful personal touch to your gifts!  I hope you like it!

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