25 February, 2023

Love bird

I'm back after a short crafting break (being busy with other things), and it was so great to prepare my DT inspiration for the upcoming Alphabet challenge. The final letters of the alphabet are tricky sometimes, but we have an easy task for you this fortnight: we'd like to see hugs & kisses for the letter X (as in: xoxoxo). As I was digging through my stash, I wondered how to interprete the theme. I found a little piece of a paper album cover, and I decided to cut out the cute bird it featured. I like the combination of peachy tones, and I don't think I've ever created with them, so it was a bit of a challenge for me, too. 
Once I was done cutting the bird motif, I decided to place it onto a kraft background that could be used as a bopokmark or a tag. Before doing so, I used an additional layer of light creme paper, because I thought it would fit better than a sterile white background. After I cut the bird to the right size, I realized I had just enough bird-leftovers to punch two tiny hearts. I placed them atop of the bird, as if it was singing a love song.
On the other side of my tag, I used a white swirly paper. I combined it with a piece of light yellow paper, and placed a strip of tiny white pearls onto the border between the two backgrounds. I decided to leave the embossed swirls as they are, and placed a tiny dedication in the lower part of my tag: nothing special, just a few golden letters saying "For you", and a pair of golden hearts to match the hearts on the other side.
Once that was done, I added a few tiny pearls around the bird, and started looking for a way to complete my tag. I couldn't find anything matching in my ribbon stash, so I decided to take this super long piece of golden thread, and layer it up by folding it multiple times. Then, I created a knot around the tag to hold the "tassles" in place. They're rather long and I like them that way, but I might shorten them a bit when the tag will be placed on a gift. Or maybe I'll just create a massive golden bow? 
When everything was done, I thought I'd add another golden sticker on top of the tag. I didn't want to leave this part of the tag empty, and I thought a bit of gold would create a nice transition between the golden tassles and the bird motif. However, I couldn't find anything suitable in my sticker stash. No golden swirl seemed to fit the way I wanted, until I went through my Christmas stickers, where I finally found a variation of a golden star. I like how it had an opening in the middle, perfect to place it around the opening of the tag. Also, I think since the beams are so close together, it almost makes it look like a sun, rather than a Christmas star. How do you like my solution, and my tag in general? Does it spark a bit of the lovey dovey spring feeling, or are you still buried in winter wonderland?

challenges: 
krafty chicks: all occasions
crafty catz: ATG
crafty gals corner: add a heart
critter crazy: ATG animals
fabnfunky: for a child
kreativtanten: bookmark
make my monday: all creatures great and small
nachteulen: ATG