BOO!! It's tag time .....

Hi everyone,

Yes it's that time again - Tim's 12 Tags of 2012. And mine is actually finished.  I'm a little bit earlier than last month, not by much though.

I've been looking forward to this month's tag, I knew Tim would do something spooky and Halloween themed.

Here's Tim's inspiration .....

spooky!!!!! ......... and this is mine

I took the pictures outside and I don't think the colours have come across very well, they're a lot darker in real life.  I'm useless at photography!

This was so much fun to do, and some fasbulous techniques too.
I pretty much followed Tim's instructions to begin with.  Covered the tag with the Tissue Wrap, creasing it up as I stuck it down.  I then used orange and purple acrylic paints to add some base colour, blending with a damp baby wipe.
Next came the Distress Inks, Ripe Persimmon, and Seedless Preserves, with a little bit of Black Soot around the edges.
The spider's web is from the Indigo Blu set of stamps - Hocus Pocus.  I stamped randomly over the background with Black Archival ink and also stamped one web using flitter Glu and followed with Winter Dawn Gilding Flakes.

There's also a spot of Fran-tage on there too (oops!) couldn't resist

I didn't have the large 'Boo' Alterations die so mine is cut using 'Wordplay'.  I decided to use two zeros instead of the o's because they were bigger and filled the width of the tag.  And it meant that I had room to put the googly eyes !!??!!! (again, I couldn't resist)  The spider and the 31 come together in a Movers and Shapers set.  But the coolest thing about the die cuts is .......... the glitter. 
It's the new Distress Stickles dry glitter in the clear rock candy.  Yes, it was actually white when I started out.  But after following Tim's instructions, I made this fabulous sparkly black version.  It's so easy to do, just pour a little into a plastic pot, add a few drops of alcohol ink and stir,  however I did have an OMG! moment when it all went 'lumpy'.  But, it came good in the end ........

........   I'll definitely be using that technique again.

The die cuts were then painted with black acrylic paint, covered with glossy accents followed by the glitter.
While these were drying, I made the ticket.  As I didn't have the new Seasonal Chit Chat, I just wrote the work 'spooky' by hand.
Everything goes together so well for this tag.  I love the colours, the techniques are fab and I'm really pleased with my finished result.

I love Halloween, although over here in the Isle of Man, the Manx people celebrate Hop Tu Naa instead.

It's an ancient Celtic festival, celebrated on 31st October, which used to be the Celtic New Year's Eve.  It would mark the end of summer and the beginning of winter, and was traditionally a time to celebrate the safe gathering of the harvest and a sign that preparations had been made for the long winter ahead.

For the last 100 years or so, children have carried out the Hop Tu Naa ritual, not unlike Halloween these days, where they go from door to door, somtimes dressed in costume, looking for sweets.  Instead of pumpkins they carry hollowed out turnips lit by a candle or a torch, and they sing Hop Tu Naa songs about 'Jinny the Witch'.
If you want to know more here's some links for you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hop-tu-Naa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-15337057   (last years report from the BBC)http://www.isleofman.com/heritage/ePedia/Arts/Ceremonies/hop-tu-naa.aspx

We're actually going on a Ghost Tour on Halloween - whoooo ooooo!!  We're off to Castletown for the Castle Rushen Experience.  I can't wait.  I'll problably be scared to death but it'll be worth it I'm sure.

First though, I have to carve my pumpkins .........

....... here they are with my Timmie Tag  (the colours look a little darker on this shot!)  Then of course there's pumpkin pies to be made - yummee!!

Well, that's my tag done for another month.  What will be November's theme? ........ I'm going for Thanksgiving.

See you all again soon.  Thanks for popping by.

Linda

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