May Tag - Tim’s 2015 Tag Challenge 

When I saw Tim’s tag this month I knew exactly what I was going to do........ 

I didn’t  have any of the Ranger Photobooth Ephemera (not really my thing)  but what I did have were some photos of my family which, I hate to say, would probably class as vintage now. So I decided to use one of my dad and to create a tag that was about my family memories of him.

I won’t reiterate the techniques used by Tim on his tag this month, as they are covered in detail on his blog, but what I would like to  share with you is how I tied in each element on my tag with my memories.

Firstly here is my tag……..

Khaki - For the background Tim used burlap but I decided to use some calico from my embroidery stash, as the colour is more in keeping with khaki. My father was in the Royal Airforce and we spent most of our time on tours abroad. Khaki is the colour of the RAF’s tropical uniform. 

Photo - As mentioned this is a photo of my dad and it was taken on the day he married mum.  The original photo was much too large (and precious) to use on the tag so I scanned it, reduced it in size and then printed the reduced version onto photo paper, et voila. Mum and dad got married during the war so it was a pretty simple affair. Their wedding reception was at home with limited fair due to rationing and they both wore their service uniforms… certainly a far cry from modern day weddings.

I edged the calico and all the elements on my tag with Vintage Photo Distressed Ink…. it had to be that colour didn’t it.

Roses - My dad was a keen gardener and transformed many of the gardens at our officer’s married quarters into quintessential english gardens filled with old english roses during his tours at various bases…. the scents still remind me of childhood summer days and their double heads and glorious colours are just wonderful.  The roses on my tag were coloured with Tattered Rose Distress Ink and Picket Fence to mute the colours. 

Foliage - I used some Festive Foliage behind my roses because as children we had truly wonderful Christmas’ and many of the toys we were given were made by dad.

He made me the most amazing dolls (house) bungalow one Christmas which was filled with intricate furniture. He'd designed and made it all by hand. It must have taken him months and months and really was a labour of love.

For my stencilled foliage I coloured Grunge Paste with a few drops of Bundled Sage Distress Ink  - Dad like to grow herbs in the garden which mum raided for her cooking.

Embellishments - I used Remnant Rubs for most of these; a calendar to represent time, a plane to represent the RAF, admit one backed onto BoBunny paper for the cinema ticket (Dad & I would go to the cinema to see all the Bond movies as soon as they were released….mum wasn’t into 007, so inevitably it was just our treat and more often than not, if we were abroad, it would be an outside cinema. We’d be sat together in the cool of the evening with a couple of ice creams watching our hero). 

I added a small piece of film strip to tie in with the cinema theme but also because Dad had a cine camera - early video camera for you youngsters - which would accompany us on all our holidays. Behind the film strip is a snippet from an old ration book that I have in my stash.

The Remnant Rub pen nibs  represent my dad’s beautiful handwriting. Dad use to reminisce that his handwriting had been so bad when he started school he'd been made to learn copperplate and in those days everyone used pen and ink. I have some lovely letters that he wrote to my mum during their early courtship which are like mini masterpieces and he never dropped the habit of writing with a fountain pen throughout his life.

I used an SU antique brad, brushed over with Picket Fence Distress Paint, to try to emulate the buttons on his Air Force uniforms, an Idea-ology Heart Charm to show how much he was loved and  a couple of stars from my stash because isn’t every dad a star to their daughter….

Finally for my wording I used the stickers from Idea-ology File Tabs and layered these with epoxy stickers. The seam binding is a soft pastel green to pick up the other green elements on my tag and the thread on my Idea-ology Arrow is a few thinned down strands of gardening string from the greenhouse.

Thank you, as always, to Tim Holtz for the inspiration and techniques but most of all for the lovely opportunity to reminisce whilst creating this tag…. (Smile).

Happy crafting all, 

Carol, xx