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Saturday, March 8, 2014

Over the Seas and Far Away

Hi everybody! It's Toni here and it's my turn to share a little project with you today. I was lucky enough to purchase a set of Tim Holtz 'Travel Ways' Stamps from the clearance section  in Kim's lovely eclectic Paperie shop and once they arrived, I knew exactly what my first project would be. It's a tag  that tells a little part of my late father's story. He was born in Nigeria and came to live in England in the late 1940's. The photograph of him here, was taken in 1950. I love his big smile and his even bigger hat! He initially studied tailoring, before working on the railways and later in a factory. At heart though, he was a musician. He played rhythm  guitar and was in several bands as my brothers and I were growing up.There's lots more to say, but I'll save that for another day.
I started off by cutting a tag from manila card, I wanted something a little bigger than my usual size 8. I laid on a bit of colour with Distress Stains and dried with my heat gun. I then used my favourite Tim Holtz 'Latticework' stencil, with  Liquitex Gesso, to add some interest to the background. 
I layered on some pieces of a printed napkin to create the music script. These were a useful 'post Christmas' find. I then  added some stamping in black Archival Ink. I created the clip board with a Movers and Shapers die, and painted it with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. The next step was to use some of the Travel Ways stamps to create some vintage travel ephemera.
I also printed out the ocean liner, as my dad travelled to England on a ship. I assembled the pieces together and adhered them to the tag with Studio Matte Medium. I popped the Ship up with some dimensional tape. The photo is a copy of the original, reduced in size. I did a little additional  distressing to the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I die cut the Dress form, as a reference to his early tailoring days and used a Sticky backed canvas ATC to add texture to the body. I also stenciled over it with the Lattice work stencil as I realised I'd covered a lot of the background stenciling and I do so love that pattern! So this tag pays homage to my lovely father's journey to a new and very different life in England and that's another story.......x
Here are some of the products I used on this tag. I think Kim may have one or two sets of the Travel Ways stamps left if you're quick !

11 comments:

Jenny Marples said...

Love it Toni. Now we know where your creative genes come from. Jenny x

Redanne said...

Hi Toni, this is so beautiful and what a wonderful story about your Dad, I do hope you will tell us more! Your tag is a wonderful tribute, the background is fabulous and I love how you layered up all of those elements. Hugs, Anne x

Paper Profusion said...

Gorgeously laden and layered with beautiful elements Toni. Fab photo of your Dad. Nicola x

Shilpa Nagaonkar said...

Great tag, Toni, love everything about it.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous tag Toni made even more special by the sentiment behind it. Sue C x

Rea' said...

Oh Toni this is fabulous; love all the Tim Holtz goodness going on, those layering stencils are addictive... love the colors and how you worked all of these elements to tell your story... just fabulous !!!

Sue Lelli said...

Such a FAB personal tag and I LOVE the story, Toni! The photo of your Dad is just Wonderful with his big smile and I enjoyed hearing all of the detailed choices you made!

Tracy said...

Oh my giddy aunt Toni..so very beautiful and true meaning behind it! Enjoyed reading about your Dad Toni.
Big hugs
Tracy
xoxox

Micki said...

Toni that is an awesome photo of your Dad and I love how you used it.
The background and the stamped elements are great and tell the story, sort of. Love that picture!!!!!

Julie Lee said...

I just hopped over to find out a little more about your lovely dad! What an interesting guy! My dad also made a vintage journey to England a long time ago! He came from Poland and his dad was a tailor! His family left before the Nazis destroyed their village, which sadly no longer exists. I love the way you used a real person who made a real journey at the heart of this project. I love all the layers that make up this tag just as our lives are multi-layered too! Julie Ann xxx

Andiepants said...

Toni thank u so much for sharing just a but about your dad. Makes your beautiful project that much more special.