It was in January 2016 that I started a little project to challenge my mixed media skills. The task was to create one art tag each month, including hand embroidery of course.
Instead of only keeping a process diary in my sketchbook, I decided to share my project with all interested in mixed media and textiles. Initially, I created a separate blog for the project but transfered it here now.
So below are the tags I created during the last 3 months of the year.
OCTOBER ART TAG: FREE FALL
This month’s art tag is a combination of zentangle and stitch and bears a rather melancholic message.
The hand embroidery was inspired by a picture of a leaf skeleton and the zentangle pattern picks up on this motif too.
I drew the zentangle pattern with a felt tip pen and stamped the letters with a vintage alphabeth stamp set.
The words “free fall” are in this context metaphors for “loss” and “decay”. And they are also a wordplay with the season’s name and the falling leaves as a symbol of the season.
The cardbord background is stained with coffee (I simply pressed used Nespresso capsules on it).
NOVEMBER ART TAG: WHITE SILENCE
Though it is nothing but white outside, I created a white art tag this month. I long for the cold, I long for snow and I long for the freshness and quiet and peace it brings…
Working in monochrome is not easy. Actually, I find it is harder than working in mixed colors! The focus is more on pattern and structure – but there is also the risk of overloading the piece with texture…
For this art tag, I embroidered snowflakes (or snow stars) on a piece of paper I got in a restaurant as a coaster for my tea cup. I really like stitching on paper and love to experiment with different types of paper. Sometimes, I use some kind of fiber mat as a stabilizer, some times I don’t. (With this tag I didn’t.)
Let it snow!! 
DECEMBER ART TAG: LISTEN
For my December tag, I stitched on paper again. It is a paper you find in boxes of chocolate candy; it is layered and embossed. When you punch a needle through it, it makes a cracking noise quite similar to breaking ice… listen! 