Friendship!

Good Thursday all my crafty friends! Here lately, it has been all or nothing!! I have been extremely busy at work and it's been challenging on the home front!! We have had many storms here in the Southeast and we have certainly felt the backlash from that at our home! We were without water for a day and a half. By far, not as bad as many of the people around here, but it certainly shows you how much you use something when you don't have it!! We aren't out of the woods yet, but at least a temporary fix allowed us some water!! If you are a praying person, pray we don't have to absorb a huge cost associated with the outage! My God is BIGGER than ALL of this, but it doesn't hurt to have prayer warriors on my side!! :)

I've been "piddling" with my art projects lately and need to get on the ball! But I will share a quick tag I did for a sweet online friend across the miles! She has been out of commission lately due to a lifestyle change, but I wanted her to know that I missed seeing her and think of her from time to time!!

I began this tag by adhering down a piece of a beautiful knapkin that I got from my good friend Becky! She ALWAYS sends me extra love in my packages and this last month she sent me some gorgeous knapkins and when I saw this one with that sweet bird, I KNEW right away I wanted to get it in a project. Once getting that down, I went over it with a gesso wash and then pulled out my trusty Faber Castell Gelatos! I went in with my Butter Cream for a base and then Pistachio around the edges. I did smudge with my fingers but ended up adding a little water to move it better. I then distressed the edges with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and then Walnut Stain. 

I wanted to make that sweet little bird stand out, so I painted the bird with gelatos in Guava, Cotton Candy, Butterscotch and Chocolate. I decided to accent that little guy with Finnabair's awesome glitters and then I outlined him with my Micron Pen and and Shadowed with my Faber Castell Big Brush Pen in Nougat as well as the tree.I did do a little stamping with a couple of old Prima Stamps that I had in my stash, but ended up in the end placing things over them, so you really can't see them. 

I keep old calendars, especially if they have beautiful drawings or pictures in them for just this purpose! I had one that had some really pretty flowers on it, so I cut a piece of a Stargazer Lily, which just happens to be my favorite flower in the world and adhered it to the bottom of the tag and then further colored with my gelatos in Guava and Butterscotch and then shadowed with the Nougat Big Brush Pen. I also outlined it with my Micron Pen. I finished the flower by adding some micro beads in berry to accent.

I have this beautiful sentiment stamp that I am not sure at this moment where I got it from!! LOL I thought that I got it from Quietfire Designs, but a friend of mine (THANK YOU) corrected me on that score!! Sorry for the Blunder Quietfire!!  I stamped using my Archival Ink in black on some scrapbook paper and then I ripped the edges and distressed with Distress Ink in Peeled Paint. I then simply popped it up using pop dots on the tag. I added some ribbon and a cute little clip I had in my stash and accented with Fin's glitter.

I really enjoyed doing this tag especially knowing I was going to send it to my sweet friend! I have met so many wonderful people online in our various art communities that I would have never met otherwise! I am so thankful and grateful that they took the time to befriend me as well! It's a joy to know so many lovely folks from all over the world! "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you!" Philippians 1:3

I hope all is well in your neck of the woods and Mother Nature is treating you kindly!!

Be blessed today! :)