Friday 27 February 2015

12 Tags of 2015 - February

Hi all

As the end of February rushes ever closer I suddenly realised that I had not done my tag for the month sooooo.....




Using papers from the French Industrial and Wallflower paper stashes and some tissue tape I made the background as per the instructions on Tim's Blog.  I added the special delivery and the pointing finger from the Ephemera pack, Expedition, and cut a round postmark from one of the papers in the French Industrial stash.  I edged with black soot distress ink then covered the whole piece with glue and seal, matte.  Once this was dry I covered the whole piece with picket fence distress paint, and sealed it again with the glue and seal once the paint was dry.

To make my heart I used Tim's die Heart Wings and cut the heart from felt.  My sewing machine is buried under a mountain of 'stuff' so I decided to hand stitch the heart.  Once I had finished the stitching I added some walnut stain distress ink as the felt was VERY bright!  I then hand stitched the heart to the tag.  I also found a small crown in one of my boxes of assorted bits and bobs so I added picket fence distress paint to the surface, wiped off the excess and added it to the top of the heart.


To add my sentiment I used a small stamp for the words and found another for a scribble and stamped straight onto the tag using archival ink.  I then added one of the Idea-ology pen nibs with a little black alcohol ink on the tip to look as if that had been the pen that added the sentiment.


Once everything was dry I used my Tim Holtz distressing tool, love this little gadget, around the edges and added some walnut stain distress ink.  To finish the tag I spritzed some black soot distress ink around the nib and over the rest of the tag.

Lyn

Thursday 26 February 2015

CC3C - Challenge 22

Hi all

What a week, I've finished the invitations that I was making, they have been delivered and admired....sooo I'm happy, phew!

I am now free to play with the bits that I want to play with, so many new stamps, dies, inks and paints, and I want them all.  Is that bad?  No I didn't think so!

So Challenge 22, Dimensional Cutting Pads page 62 of the Compendium of Curiosities.  I was also able to use my new die and embossing folder  'Layered Butterfly'  I know, its been in my stash for a while but I have been so busy I've not been able to even open the packaging.  Following the instructions on page 62 I cut my butterfly and embossed it on some Seena's Stamping Card.  I love this card as it takes ink wonderfully and releases it well too.




Now in hindsight I should have painted my paper first but I got excited about using the die so I had to paint after.  I used some Deco Art acrylic paint in transparent yellow oxide to put a base layer all over the card, then splatty sprayed some black soot distress ink over the piece and dried it completely.  Then a layer of quinacridone gold and transparent red oxide acrylic paint was applied over the top quickly to avoid moving the black ink.  When this was dry I decided it was still too bright, I was going for a grungy rusty look, so I used a 'dirty wash' which was a combination of transparent red oxide and paynes grey acrylic paint that had been well watered.  This was then dried thoroughly.

I then highlighted the embossing with some Pebeo Empire Gold gilding wax, this can be buffed once dry to give a lovely subtle metallic sheen.

I used the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamp set Perspective for the sentiment and the butterfly wings in the background.  These were simply stamped with black archival ink.  I then added some white rub ons, a few odd bits that I've been moving round my craft room for a while, I hate to throw anything away, don't you?  These rub ons were very white so I used some of the dirty wash to tone them down a bit.  A little bit of tissue tape in opposite corners, again covered with dirty wash, finished off the background.

I then mounted the piece onto gold mirri card, then wrapped some rusty wire round from the reverse and then made some holes to thread the wire under the butterfly and back to the front.  I wound round three times and threaded a small bronze butterfly charm onto one of the wires.

I took one of the Idea-ology Philosophy tags and covered it with antiqued bronze distress paint and wiped off the excess.  I tied it to the piece with some twine, black thread and some gold bead chain and then mounted the whole piece onto some dark brown card.

I like the way the mirri card can be seen under the butterfly, it looks as though the butterfly is floating.


Yet again the Curiosity Crew has provided some stunning examples for this challenge, click here to go to Linda Ledbetter's blog to view these masterpieces.  Also thanks to The Funkie Junkie for sponsoring this challenge.

Right whats next?

Lyn

Tuesday 10 February 2015

CC3C - Challenge 21

Hi all,

This challenge is the fabulous Distress Rock Candy Glitter, see page 55 of the compendium for details.  I love this stuff, glitter really isn't my thing, well except at Christmas, but Distress glitter is so much more subtle.  It gives a very discrete sparkle that can enhance anything, even my hair - I sneezed when I had the pot in my hand and got decorated!  What a waste.

Anyhoo, on with the challenge,



Taking a size 8 tag I spritzed with seedless preserves, spun sugar and worn lipstick distress stain and then mopped up the excess ink with a piece of kitchen paper to give a soft mottled effect to the background.  I use an old pizza box as a spray box and there was quite a nice puddle of ink in the bottom os the box so I dipped the tag into the ink.  To my surprise I got a lovely hatched pattern from the box base to give another layer of texture to my background.

I then used a PaperArtsy set of stamps (EDY01 by Darcy) to add more interest to the background.  These stamps are very gothic and I love the font.  The heart swirl was stamped and glittered using the technique on page 55 of the Compendium of Curiosities.  I also coloured the little hearts using some seedless preserves distress ink and added a few white highlights.


The large heart was then stamped and embossed with black embossing powder onto acetate and coloured on the reverse with Pebeo glass paints.  The fabulous red is a transparent paint and the silver is metallic.  Once the paints were dry I cut round the shape and adhered the heart to the tag.



I added a few extra black gems to extend the heart topper onto the card but left a little overhanging the edge so the transparency could be seen.  I then stamped the sentiment onto the bottom of the card and added an Idea-ology arrow underneath.

To finish off the tag I used an edging tool to roughen the edges and then inked round with seedless preserves distress ink.  I spritzed some cream seam binding with seedless preserves, spun sugar and worn lipstick distress stain and dried it using my heat gun (I'm too impatient to let it dry naturally) and then tied a messy bow.  I found a double heart charm in my stash which I distressed with black alcohol ink and silver mixative and threaded it onto a thin silver ribbon, this was threaded through the messy bow and also tied in a bow.

I may give this to my darling hubby for Valentines Day, if he behaves himself!

As usual you can find oodles of creative loveliness from the Curiosity Crew on Linda's website.  Head over there to be amazed.  Also thanks to the Inspiration Emporium for sponsoring this challenge.

Lyn