K is for

Hello there and welcome back for another day in my alpha blog series. I think the bus is jogging along quite nicely now and I'm rather enjoying the view.

Today 'K is for 'Keep' and no I'm not talking about the tower attached to a castle! One of the main dictionary definitions of the word keep is 'to stay in a state, position or place without changing or moving'; and in some circumstances this would be ideal. To keep still whilst having your photograph taken is very practical, it would be understandable to keep quiet because you were afraid and to be warned to keep out of a dangerous area is definitely sensible.

But how do you feel about keeping someone down or keeping them under control? Isn't it amazing how one little word can have so many meanings, both positive and negative. 

As crafters we all know about the word keep. 'I must keep that 2" piece of blue card in case I need it sometime!' or 'I have to keep that new pad of patterned paper, it's too good/nice/pretty to use!'  The reality is you wouldn't keep a 2" piece of kitchen foil in case it might be useful, and you wouldn't buy a new dress and not wear it because it was too pretty. Strange how if you put things under the umbrella of 'craft' they completely change their meaning!

Now for today's tag. If you follow either Glenda or myself on Facebook then you may have seen this tag before. But I have to say that day in late October last year was a ray of sunshine for me and one that helped me keep my chin up; so I'm sure you won't mind be posting it here.

First I stamped the Julie Nutting Peasant Dress with Memento Tuxedo Black. I then stamped her again on Masking Tissue, cut her out with the help of a pair of friendly hands and then laid the mask over the image on the tag. The background was created with a combination of Dylusions Spray inks in Pure Sunshine, Lemon Zest and Squeezed Orange. (I also sprayed the same combo of colours onto a spare piece of 160gsm white card and left that to one side for later). 

After drying the tag with a heat tool I sprayed Postbox Red through the 6" Crafters Workshop Template Art Is and then sponged through the12" Flower Frenzy stencil using Golden Fluid Acrylic Paint in Cobalt Turquoise. And finally I sprayed White Linen spray ink through a circle stencil.

The Peasant dress was stamped onto the spare coloured piece of card, the dress and the hairband were cut out and attached to the tag with a wet adhesive. When completely dry the hair, face, legs, arms and shoes were coloured with Copics and the word 'delight' added.

One of the phrases I do like is 'keep going', not always easy to do but when faced with some kind of adversity, or what appears to be a brickwall I urge you to try it. It may seem like the hardest thing in the world but sometimes keeping going is what keeps us going.

See you tomorrow