Be still my (tattooed) heart!

I am so pleased by my entry to this week's challenges. Not because it is the best entry nor because it is necessarily the best tag I have ever made. No - I am chuffed because I have had many aborted attempts at using this stamp and I am finally happy with the result! Cue singing choirs of angels! I used Tim's technique as suggested 

by Linda at Studio L3 for this week's Grungy Monday challenge. I have tried this a few times before and as I knew I wanted to use the heart stamp I did use clear embossing powder instead of paint as I wanted the image a little stronger... hope that doesn't mean I cheated! I cut out a tag with my trusty Vagabond and then mixed Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls powder with Vintage Photo reinker and Forever Red Perfect Pearls with Barn 

Door reinker. I sprayed the red in the middle and the Vintage Photo at the edges so that the image looked stronger. When it was dry (isn't waiting for things to dry boring? I went to my daughter's final primary school play while I was waiting so that took a lot of the boredom out of it!) I added Coffee Archival Ink flourishes (as per the Simon Says Stamp and Show 

challenge this week) and a sentiment (that's my Sunday Stamper challenge done too!) I added an Adage Ticket (inked like the tag) and a Trinket Pin. I distressed the edges of the tag, inked them with Coffee Archival Ink and added a chocolate ribbon. Then I admired my lovely handiwork and knew it needed a little something so added some lush Rock Candy Stickles to 

the heart and a little on the edges. I haven't used Stickles for ages and forgot how much I love them so be warned - they'll be on everything now! Thank you for reading this, and for your comments on this blog, Twitter and Facebook - they really are appreciated! Gabrielle x