Autumn Tree Tags

Autumn inspires me. I love the change in colors. I enjoy the falling leaves, raking leaves, piles of leaves, collecting leaves and pressing them. My old telephone books are filled with them.

A friend of mine, Heather of sUn dApPLed nEsT, who is involved with the inner city ministry, Lewiston Root Cellar, ask for volunteers to help make tags to hang on her Tree centerpiece which was to auctioned for their Fall Event benefit. The theme was trees, autumn, faces and community. I made several "Autumn Tree" tags. Since they hang on her tree and both sides are visible, I finished both sides of the tags. All of these except one are garment tags. (I have lots of garment tags saved.) I used Gesso for the base, then painted the backgrounds and layered torn pieces of old hymn pages, stamped leaves and acorns, added vintage children images, and real pressed Oak, Maple, and Birch leaves from trees in my yard.

And a couple more I made and sent -  these are a bit larger, with layered scrapbook paper as the background, stamped leaves and acorns, vintage children images, twigs, and real pressed leaves:

I also included a surprise gift for Heather -- the first is a hanging collage and the little ones are an ATC and two inchies:

I made my own envelop to put her ATC and inchies in:

The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up,
as if orchards were dying high in space.
Each leaf falls as if it were motioning "no."
And tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.
We're all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It's in them all.
And yet there is Someone, whose hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.

~Rainer Maria Rilke~
Translated by Robert Bly