Victorian Vintage Valentine Alphatag

It's quite amazing to think there are only four letters left for our Baroque Guild Alphatag swap. For this one I actually started out working on vignettes but they rapidly turned themselves into a Victorian Vintage Valentine.

Interestingly I found I was consolidating some of my discoveries (see here, here & here) with watercolour paper during my tangling course: both my main image & the two small roses are coloured using Walnut Stain Distress Ink (inkpad & Marker) but the lady is on hot press & the small roses are on cold press watercolour paper (see below for specific details). On the cold press paper I could manipulate & move the ink about far more freely than I could on the hot press. I suspect this will vary between the brands of watercolour papers too. A working knowledge of not only different materials but different brands of the same materials is really being brought home to me.

front of tag

close-up of upper section showing tone on tone
background stamping

 close-up of main image - angled to show glittering
pearl jewellery, hair & hat adornments

close-up showing wet embossed letter "V" & watercoloured
roses plus both pleated & unpleated lace trimming 

back of tag

close-up showing paper pierced & inked scallops of
theme panel plus tone on tone stamping

The lace around my image was pleated & secured by snipping from the bottom up to each eyelet & then making a tiny pleat as I secured each section onto the image panel using a combination of red line tape in small strips & tacky glue. Another die-cut oval (this time from some sturdy cardboard) the same size as my image panel was then attached across the whole of the back to provide both a neat & a flat finish for attaching the whole panel to the tag,

Recipe
Stamps Chocolate Baroque UDLGW0093 Ornate Alphabet (letter "V"), UDLGW0095 Rose Set (small roses), UA6SP0141 Victorian Ladies Accessories (image) & UA4SP0242 Harlequin Rose (tone on tone stamping).
Inks VersaFine Vintage Sepia (background stamping), Walnut Stain Distress Ink (images & inking various cardstock edges), Emboss Tinted Stamp Pad with Stampendous Detail White Embossing Powder (letter "V").
Markers Walnut Stain Distress Marker, Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll Pen, Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, White Pentel K118 Hybrid Gel Grip Pen.
Cardstock Dark brown & white from stash,  Daler-Rowney Langton 300gsm Hot Pressed Extra Smooth watercolour paper & Winsor & Newton Cotman 190gsm Cold Pressed/NOT Grain Fin Watercolour Paper.
Die Sizzix Movers & Shapers L Die - Tag & Bookplates, Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Ovals Small.
Punch Woodware (scalloped squares).
The pearl hearts, lace & ribbon are all from stash.

Umbels & Ultramarine Alphatag

The inspiration for my "U" Baroque Guild Alphatag came from the scenery along Brecon Canal where my husband & I often (weather permitting) walk. There are numerous hedgerows to one side which act like a screen through which the Beacons Mountains are visible.  Both these hedgerows & the canal banks are full of tall umbellifers (plants of the Umbelliferae order where the flower-clusters or umbels have stalks nearly equal in length springing from a common centre so as to form a flat or curved surface). I've imagined my plants silvery with one of the early frosts approaching the winter months & my sky is a pale wintery one, appropriately created utilizing the colour ultramarine.

front of tag 

close-up of upper section

close-up of lower section

angled view showing wet embossing
& the different silvers of flower-clusters

back of tag

close-up showing paper pierced scallops & inked edges
of theme panel plus tone on tone background stamping

The cloudy sky was watercoloured using Aquatone watercolour sticks (mixing Ultramarine, Chinese White & Ivory Black) on watercolour paper. The mountains were sponged with the Distress Stain, misted & dabbed with a paper towel to soften the effect. I wanted a contrast in the silvers on the floral image so used an ordinary silver gel pen for colouring the stalks & leaves plus a silver  Sakura Stardust pen for the flower-clusters.

Recipe

Stamps Chocolate Baroque UA4SP0176 Wild Meadow.

Inks Emboss Tinted Stamp Pad with Stampendous Detail Silver Embossing Powder (focal images), Pumice Stone Distress Stain, Brilliance Starlight Silver (tone on tone stamping on back & inking various cardstock edges).
Pencils/Markers etc… Derwent Aquatone watercolour sticks, Signo uni-ball silver gel pen, Sakura Stardust gel pen, Staedtler Triplus Fineliner.

Cardstock Winsor & Newton Cotman 190gsm Cold Pressed/NOT Grain Fin Watercolour Paper; assorted pale blues from stash.

Dies Sizzix Movers & Shapers L Die - Tag & Bookplates.
Punches Woodware (scalloped square).
The gems & ribbon are from stash.