Hi Everyone!

I hope you're all doing well and surviving this crazy weather we've been having!

I wanted to show you my latest creations.  I've taken up the challenge by Anne Brooke for her #52tagshannemade she did in 2021. I wanted to do it last year, but life kept intervening! So I decided to do it this year and so far, I'm on track. Hopefully I'll be able to keep that up.   Here's how it works.  Each week, Anne sends out "prompts," and the idea is that you create a tag following whatever the prompt is.  And by year's end, you have 52 tags of your very own. Some might use them or give them away, but I'm planning to keep mine and either keep them in a book of some kind, or display them somehow on a wall. Anyway, I've just completed Week # 4, for the 4th week in January 2022!  And here they all are:

This is Tag #1 for the first week in January, and the prompt was: White.I personally don't care much for white; I do prefer various shades of creams, though. And I want all the tags to be identical in shape and color. I also plan to use softer colors if at all possible. The overall look I'm going for is something that looks "peaceful." I hope that makes sense.  Fortunately, I was able to make all 52 tags from scrap cardstock! And the base material is a lovely piece of Irish linen, which I think will go well with all the tags....maybe! 😊 For this tag, I've used antique and vintage lace and these precious vintage buttons. Aren't they adorable? And tiny too!  One of the buttons, the one on the bottom, still had it's original thread in it, so I matched it with some of my own thread for the other three buttons. It's the perfect color to "appear" vintage.

This is Tag #2 and the tag prompt was:  Hearts
I learned a lot when I was creating this tag and also Tag #4. For one thing, I finally realized that it's been almost 20 years since I've done any embroidery to speak of! And my eyes don't see as well, and my fingers aren't as nimble as they were 20 years ago! My DMC threads are at least that old, but probably more, and my embroidery needles are all gone! It's very sad but I'm going to take one for the team on this one and. . . . go buy some of those yummy threads I've seen people using! 😀 Some new embroidery scissors are already on their way, as well as needle threaders. I also bought some new reading glasses! So I'm almost set! I used my DMC threads in these soft green and pink colors. I drew the shape of the heart on the fabric using a stencil. Then, I stitched around it in green. I drew ivy here and there and stitched that in green, with little pink flowers.

This is Tag #3 and the prompt was: Scraps!
This one was a lot of fun because I have LOTS of scraps. I save fabric and lace scraps as long as they are at least one inch square (though I have saved smaller pieces if it's something special).  I searched through all my lace scrap bins and found these lovely pieces. Then, I determined how they looked best arranged and glued them down on the base fabric of Irish linen. Voila! I think it was more fun because it was less exacting. But that's also the beauty of this project. It's nothing too involved, but just enough to give you a little nudge to create something small. And if you take longer, then so be it. 😀

This is Tag #4 and the prompt was Fly Stitch.  I'm actually going to redo this one because I want the colors softer. I also need more practice with fly stitches! This way, you  can hopefully see my progress in the next one I do!  I love lavender and my sweet husband grows it in our garden every year. He's a fan of lavender too.  And I've also pressed quite a lot of it too! They make great journal cards and tags. Lovely scent!  😀

Well, that's all for now. I hope you've enjoyed this post.  I'd love to hear what you think.  And I'll be putting up a video about them on YouTube shortly.  The link for that will be:  https://youtu.be/h6-31KsE9xI     And my Instagram link is: 

https://www.instagram.com/ fursdonhouse

Many thanks and may God bless.  Jan