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Friday, 11 April 2014

Dream, Trust, Create, Inspire!




Servus, dear followers old and especially those anew! So glad that you stop by my little creative spot!




The April tag over at Tim Holtz' "12 tags of 2014" really is my absolute favourite so far. I really LOVE that trellis die! And - as some of you might already know and have noticed - I am not very much into flowers (too lovely, too fiddly, too bulky, too whatsoever)...but the flowers Tim creates using the pinecone die are just THE perfect paper flowers for me! Finally I found "my" paper flowers...who would have thought ;)
 



The play with the trellis die and using it with various surfaces for the tiles and the frames finally led to a series of 4 tags that are connected to each other as all the elements/materials/techniques used on them appear in a variation on the other tags.




I admit my first attempts on making the roses failed as I tore the die cut while trying to wrap it around the tooth pick (there are three spots where the single "leaves" are connected by a rather narrow  piece and obviously I treated them like rated break points ;)...but after some tries I had learned where to pay attention and be careful,  I finally succeeded and even managed to create three more. Phew! ;)




I used Kraft Glasseine for one tag, which I stapled over a stamped tag and treated with alcohol inks afterwards. For  one tag I used brown kraft cardboard, for another a sheet from a Tim Holtz paper stash and for the fourth tag I used Kraft Core, which I sanded down a bit after I had die cut the tag (using the Sizzix "Tag and Book Plates" die).




I even used some scrap from cutting the trellis frames for borders and additional embellishing. I cut the trellis tiles and frames from card which I glued some sticky foil onto and ran some of the tiles throught my Sizzix using an embossing folder. Then I rubbed in some black acrylic paint and wiped off the excess using some soft cloth. The made the embossed texture pop even more! I also dry embossed some of the card tiles for more texture.





Some of the tiles that had the sticky foil on them were given a treatment with alcohol inks - as was the frame (which you can see in the image above)!





I did a lot of stapling, distressing, tearing and puzzling with the various tiles and frames and enjoyed this a lot!  I also varied the ribbons I used with the tops of my tags and tried to find the perfect matches for each tag.



I hope you have enjoyed seeing all my variations and tries with all the various surfaces, textures and colours! My personal favourite is the tag with the Kraft Glasseine background...but I love looking at all four lying side by side... seeing the elements that connect them but create totally different effects on each tag - depending on what they are combined with.





Thank you for stopping by! Hugs and happy crafting!
Claudia x




25 comments:

  1. These are gorgeous hun! Love that die cut trellis - stunning work! Don't worry about visiting I just love to come on over when I have a bit of time to check what you have been creating recently. Love these and will have to save my pennies to get that die - it's gorgeous! Karen xx

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  2. Wow! You do like April's tag!! Brilliant quartet of tags you have made. I need to make something.....
    Love
    Amanda x

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  3. Hi Claudia, so many gorgeos tags to look at, you really have had a good play. I especially like the alcohol ink effect on the trellis. I find I have the same trouble with the roses that you had depending on what paper I used, but as you say you do get used to them and once you know how, well its hard to stop making them. Hugs Mo x

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  4. Wow, wow, wow! I absolutely love this set! The colours are amazing and the tiles are such beautiful accents. Stunning, what you did with alcohol inks. And your pinecone flowers look very professional. :) Hugs, Agnieszka

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  5. eine supertolles Set wow wow wow Claudia-..fabelhaft!!!
    Da hast Du geschwelgt und alles rausgeholt aus diesen Stanzen was nur möglich ist!
    Sensationell!

    Schönes Wochenende

    xxx
    Susi

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  6. These are all amazing and beautiful Claudia! You have really captured the spirit of April's Tag x4! It shows you loved this months tag! I agree, I have been making rosettes like a mad crafter to prep for this tag. I feel like I'm in training! Love your tags and I really have to get onto mine! I'm off to PIN your tags! Gorgeous!!!

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  7. wow - was für fantastische Tags!!!! Jedes absolut traumhaft!
    Liebe Grüße, Dagmar

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  8. They look fabulous and the roses are beauties.
    Yvonne

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  9. I looove the tags, and how they all go together so well. You are tempting me so much with the trellis die after seeing this...I love how you have cut it up and used patches here and there. And the roses do look absolutely beautiful.
    Dot x

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  10. Delicious, delightful, beautifully creative, stunning colours, fabulous designs, ........ You get the picture? I love how you've used Tim's tag and created four of your own that are simply divine xx

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  11. Wow, Claudia, die sind dir aber gut gelungen! Großartig, wieviele Techniken du auf so kleinem Raum untergebracht hast! Einfach toll.
    Hab ein schönes Wochenende!
    xxx Evelyn

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  12. Very creative - lots of interesting variety details to see, very beautiful!!
    Enjoy your weekend! Hugs, Kerstin

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  13. hi Claudia...your tags are amazing. love the colours and the trellis die looks amazing. I have still to use it but I love your inserts and the fabulous textures. Your flowers are stunning too. Love the ribbons reminds me of some I purchased in a store called Depot when I was in Hamburg last year.
    Crafty Hugs Annie x

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  14. beautiful as normal - really like the marbling effects.EE

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  15. Not one, but four beautiful tags! Each one is beautiful Claudia, but then, your work is always beautiful.... Anne xx

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  16. wow - wunderbar sind deine april-tags, du kreativling ;-)
    hoffe, es kommt bald mal die zeit (wenn es bei dir besser ist), dass wir uns mal treffen....
    alles liebe und einen schönen sonntag wünsche ich dir -
    margit

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  17. Wow - die sind echt spitze geworden!!!! Fantastisch!!!!

    LG!

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  18. Great tags. I love the versatility with the new frameworks dies. Yours are amazing. Karen.x

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  19. I have this die on order and can't wait for it to arrive. Your tags are beautiful.

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  20. OMG!!!! I freakin' love every single one of these. Too lovely for words!

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  21. Hi Claudia, loving the tags. I have the framework die but haven't used it yet. Hope my efforts look as good as yours.
    Happy crafting, Angela x

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  22. Such a cool take on the April tag - brilliant variations from tag to tag, and I completely love the alcohol inked panels in the trellis - fabulous!
    Alison x

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  23. Claudia your tags are beautiful! I pinned before leaving my comment here! I like the colors, I like the variety with which you have filled the spaces! Amazing and original! BArbarayaya

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  24. These are so stunning Claudia, and I have no idea how I managed to miss them up til now.... I absolutely love all the different insets and how you "puzzled" them together. They look brilliant with the different textures and everything. You may know this already, but just in case you didn't, - Tim actually pinned this to one of his Pinterest boards! That's where I finally saw it...

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