T Stands for Tag

 

The lovely Valerie is hosting the current challenge over at Tag Tuesday, and her theme is recycle and re-use. It took me a while to get my creative juices flowing on this one which is not because of the theme but because I was pre-occupied with other things, mainly with the beginning of the school year at the German School. The last time I was standing in a classroom is 18 months ago and I was quite nervous before the first day (which was last Saturday). I really needn't be - it was wonderful to be teaching in the classroom again, to see my students and talk with them in person. There was a completely different energy in the classroom that simply beats online teaching. I have a big class this semester, all returning students, some of whom had been in my class several years ago and decided to come back.

But back to the tag - this is what I created:

I cut a tag shape from a Kleenex tissue box and tried to "distress" it with Tim Holtz Distress Ink, only to discover that the surface is too smooth for the ink to stick on it. So I covered the tag with clear gesso to give it more tooth and then roughly painted it with bright aqua green and light blue permanent acrylic paint (Liquitex). I stamped the cabins and the lovely bathing lady (Crafty Individuals) onto watercolor paper and filled them with color using my Winsor and Newton travel watercolor set. The net you can see in the lower part of the tag is from a bag that once held Dutch baby potatoes. After gluing down the cabins and the lady on top of it I attached the piece of driftwood and the shells I had found on the beach several years ago. Lastly, I took some leftover yarn from a couple knitting projects and tied them to the tag. Done.

Yes, I know, since this is Elizabeth's T for Tuesday you want to see a drink. After last week's pineapple-hibiscus cooler I thought I kind of stay with the theme, but add some alcohol to it - here is a hibiscus bellini, that I had in a seafood restaurant in Eureka on our way back from Oregon two months ago. It was delicious, albeit a little bit too sweet.

I love my Tuesdays with the T-gang! You can find them here.

It's a Dog's Gate

This gate in my neighborhood always brings a smile to my face. It's wacky, creative and definitely different. The top with the girl pushing the wheelbarrow is fun, but I really like the dog.

It's a guard dog, I assume, one of the really sweet kind.

Quite a lot of parts of this gate are made of recycled material - what a creative way to upcycle items! It might not necessarily be pretty in a conventional sense, but it's certainly unique. I rather have that in my neighborhood than uniformity.

It's definitely a "good fence" and therefore deserves to be linked up to Theresa's blog.