Paper Mischief: 52Q

Now that my 2010 Album is finished I can make a start on my 2011 yearly projects. The first one I've tackled is 52Q as Im still waiting to get a decent photo of myself for my first page of Life & Me - its proving even more difficult then I thought as I really do not like to be in front of the camera!

Im really looking forward to following the 52Q project on UKS as there are so many people taking part and so many different media formats being used as people adapt it to suit. Im personally using tags to record my 52 questions. And in typical me fashion I forgot to buy some blank tags to get me started so I turned to my Cricut and cut my own using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. I cut them from Kraft cardstock which I then covered in Gesso.

I am going to be keeping all my tags on a huge book ring and I wanted a 'front cover' tag to set everything off. After playing around with the water colour paints to create the background I stamped onto the tag with one of my PaperArtsy stamps. 2011 is cut out using my Cricut and then embossed with a plantinum embossing powder. I didnt like the way the numbers looked so new and shiny so I stamped over them using a Stazon ink pad to give them a bit of a tarnished look. The clock image is from a digi-stamp which I painted over with acrylic paint to give it a muted feel and for a final touch of sparkle I coloured in the butterfly with a Sakura pen.

This is the start of my first tag. I used the water colour paints to create a background using various shades of blue.

Once the background was dry I stamped the flower image from one of my PaperArtsy sets and embossed it in white. The bird in flight is from the Stampin' Up set 'Just A Note' - I stamped onto kraft cardstock and then triple embossed using a navy embossing powder and just before it cooled I stamped into it with the text stamp from my PaperArtsy set to give it some texture.

To highlight the texture on the bird I rubbed in some pale blue acrylic paint before covering it in glossy accents. I used the same text stamp to add texture to the word 'Hopes' and to decorate the top of the tag. To finish off I inked the edges using a Distress Ink Pad 'peeled paint'.

On the reverse of each tag is my journalling spot and a stamped number so I know which order my tags go in. I've kept my journalling private but my hopes for 2011 are quite simple - to live life to the full!

Dee