12 Tags for 2013 - July

Squeaking in under the wire again this month with my tag for July.  My favorite thing about Tim's tag this month was the brayered background.  (You can see his tag HERE.)

 

 This tag was a bear for me to finish; it just kept needing something more.  I stuck to his brayered background, distressed the edges with Walnut Stain DI and added bits of script stamping and the bird on the branch image.  I wanted Santa to stand out so stamped him in black ink.  Both the ribbon on top and the twine on the bottom were altered using Distress stains.

I attempted his crackle technique for the numbers but used Crackle Accents as that's what I had on hand.  It worked alright but didn't really turn out how I'd hoped.  It's okay, as the master himself says, Embrace Imperfection.  Working on that...

Products Used:
• #8 manila tag
• Distress Stains: Barn Door, Walnut Stain, Tarnished Brash
• Distress Paints: Tarnished Brass, Antiqued Bronze
• Distress Inks: Walnut Stain, Mowed Lawn, Barn Door, Fired Brick
• Dye Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Memento Lady Bug, Versafine Black Onyx
• Alcohol Ink: Watermelon
• Dies: Festive Foliage, Doodle Tags
• Other Stuff: Honeycomb embossing folder, seam binding, brads, red tinsel, bakers twine, green glimmer spray, tissue tape

Thanks for stopping by to look at my tag.  Cheers!

ATCs - Part II

Finished up the ATC's last night!

Title: Flutter By
Color Theme: Peach, Teal, Red

Title: Take the Time
Color Theme:  Pastel Pink, Lavendar, Green
(trust me here...it really looks more like these colors in person)

Title: Walk Like an Egyptian
Theme: Vintage Dance
(She is a Russian dancer and the picture was taken in 1915)

Title: Her Majesty
Color Theme: Aqua, Lime, Purple

Hmmm...apparently I like things to be tilted to the left.  It hasn't been so obvious to me before.  Thanks for stopping by today!

ATC Newbie

I mentioned a while back that I've rediscovered swaps.  The thing I like about them is that not only do I get to try new techniques on a small scale but I also get to see what other creative types are doing.  I'm giving ATC's a whirl now.  If you're not familiar with them, ATC is short for Artist Trading Cards.  They have to be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" but other than that the sky is the limit.  They can be made from any material and can be embellished as much or as little as the artist chooses.  Typically on the back the artist gives the card a title then signs and dates it.  The ones I've created were made for an SCS swap where the receiver picked the theme.

Title: Saddle Up
Theme: Colors - light blue, navy and silver

Title:  Big Fish, Little Fish
Theme: Vintage Sea Creatures

Title:  Naughty Spot
Theme: Vintage Dick & Jane

Title: Les Petites Chaussures
Theme: Vintage Shoes

I still have four more to make so back to work for moi.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Seahorse Tag - Tag Tuesday

I recently joined the Tag Tuesday group.  The theme this week is Fish.

I started with a white scrap of cardstock and then sprayed with Dylusions ink sprays.  I added some texture by pressing water-misted bubble wrap against the background to remove some of the color and then followed that by stamping the main image.  Then I got out the handy dandy waterbrush and started removing and adding color (water to remove and Dylusions inks to add it back in).  Black sharpie and white Signo Uniball pens as well as a little charcoal pencil added some more interest.  To finish this guy off I stamped some water droplets (Designs by Ryn - love these!) and a beaded hanger.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Tattered Florals Wanna Be

There are some really cool projects out there using Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals die.  Unfortunately my budget is limited and that die is not in my collection yet.  Wandering around Pinterest I found a great DIY flower tutorial for making your own by Paul Browning.  They remind me of dogwood blooms.  Here's the one I made:

This was Super Easy.  Here's what I used:

 - Scrap cardstock, white and dark brown
 - Water in spray bottle
 - Chalk ink, Amber Clay
 - Distress Stain, Wild Honey
 - Toothpick (to curl up petals)
 - Sun (mini) punch
 - Chopstick
 - Heat gun

Click on the link to his post to try it!

Sunday Postcard Art - Ephemera

I'm titling my postcard this week "Homage to Frannie".   My mom has affectionately been dubbed "The Deal Queen" by her children and grandchildren.  She doesn't scope out good deals out of financial necessity but rather I think for her it's the thrill of the chase of finding a really good deal. 

With the exception of the card base, ink and rhinestones, all of the items used on my card were plundered from either my purse or the kitchen counter (i.e. weekly grocery circulars).  I stamped and cut out her face from a receipt and her crown is a gum wrapper that I purposely kept since it was a such a pretty, shiny blue color.  :)

Thanks for stopping by this week!

Fun with Tiles

My mom had a birthday recently and I was hard-pressed to come up with a gift for The Woman Who Has Everything - or at least a gift in my budget. :)  I ended up giving her these tiles.  Ever since then I've been thinking that I need to make some more; the process is totally unpredictable which is the fun of it to me.  Here's what I came up with:

At first I was thinking of calling them Neptune's Forest as they remind me of looking at a kelp forest underwater.  But then I looked again and they could also simply be a fun, whimsical Funky Forest.  What name do you think fits best?

The Great Pumpkin

Today was a bit cooler and greyer than the last few weeks.  It put me in a mood to think about Halloween items for the shop.  I know that sounds crazy, but as I perused the aisles of Hobby Lobby the other day I was aghast to see CHRISTMAS stuff out already.  Yikes.  Halloween I can do.  Christmas?  Not yet.

Last year I had great fun making Christmas ornaments using a plain glass ornament base.  This year I'm adding a few of these spooky little guys to the shop:

Jack-o-Lantern Ornament, $12.95 on Etsy

  I think you can see in the picture that I kept the color translucent so the text (from a recycled book) can still show through.  The final coat has some brown and metallic gold mixed in to give it a really nice rustic, yet shimmery, look.  I inked up the ornament top too as I didn't like the silver against the warm tone of Jack.  See the listing HERE for more pictures and info.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday Postcard Art - Faeries of the Sea

My SPA offering for this week:

I made my card based on an image from Mermaids: The Body Found that aired on Animal Planet a while ago. 

The background is a mix of Dylusions and Distress Inks/Paint/Stain as well as a recycled paper towel that had ink overspray on it. A smidge of pewter glitter is around the silhouette.  The poem fragment reads

"That fairy song was not for me,
Nor those green eyes, nor that gold hair;
Deep in the caves beneath the foam
There was a husband and a home
It was a mermaid taking care
Of her small children of the sea.

The full poem is here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Less Is More - Shades of Grey Challenge

For some reason a wedding/anniversary type card immediately popped into my brain when I saw this challenge at Less Is More.

I used 3 different shades of grey for the scallop border and decided that silver was a good addition too; it not only edges the scallops, but is also on the cake polka dots, ribbon and mat edge as well as the circles behind the image.

I think you can see the shimmer a bit better in this shot.

Thanks for taking a peek at my creation!

Sunday Postcard Art - Sing Your Heart Song

....or how about Tuesday Postcard Art??  The background is corrugated cardboard that was gessoed, sprayed with some yellow ink spray and then coated again with a little yellow distress paint.  A music sheet was sprayed with some ink sprays before I cut it into a heart shape.  The IPod was stenciled with acrylic paint over a scrap piece that had ink spray overspray on it and the wire is some wired paper fiber that I've had in my stash for ages.

 

Get the details to play along with Sunday Postcard Art HERE.  Happy Tuesday!!