Wonderful Life

I have been wanting to make a weekly tag. So I think I will begin Tag Tuesdays. I love tags, but I know not everyone does. To me they are a great way to try out new techniques, etc. There are many other reasons and ways to use tags. This will give me things to talk about on Tuesdays. 

To start with I used a light colored kraft cardstock tag. I keep a bunch of tags made up in a variety of colors. I use the Tim Holtz Sizzix die called tag and bookplates. It is a great size to work with.

I wanted a somewhat non descript background stamp. This one is by Great Impressions.

I used VersaMark to stamp. I then used clear ultra thick embossing enamel. It is like embossing powder, but thicker. It can also be used in a melting pot for other techniques. A fun product to try out.

After I heat set the enamel, I let it cool. Next I rubbed dusty concord Distress Stain over the whole tag.

Rub with a dry towel. The embossing resists the stain.

I then spritzed it all over with forever violet Perfect Pearls Mist. This gives it a slight shine. It is hard to see in the picture.

This is Spellbinders Nested Crowns die, the largest of the 3. I cut it out of a coated fabric type paper.

I used brushed pewter Distress Stain to color the whole crown.

I took a sponge and applied a bit of antiqued bronze Distress Stain around the edges. 

This flourish is from a Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz set entitled Urban Chic.

I decided it needed a bit more color. I took black archival ink around the edges.

With the black ink I also did the edges of the tag. I then stamped this quote from another Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz set called Way With Words.

This is it so far. I think it needs some bling now.

These gold items are candi by Craftwork Cards. They are the size of a brad. I turned them upside down and puta rhinestone inside.

That looks much better and more complete.

This is entirely different than what I had in mind when I started. But, I like it so much. Often times things take a whole different direction, and it's for the better! Thanks for joining me again on my creative adventure. Please keep coming back.

Royalty

Well it's a new week, and I decided to focus on all things "royal". I wanted to do this in anticipation of Stamp-N-Toys Royal Weekend Retreat. On Friday morning,  I will leave to a much needed getaway. I will be teaching classes, visiting, and hopefully working on some projects.

To begin with I stamped this Crown Collage by Hero Arts onto my card stock using black archival ink.

I wanted to rough up the edges so I used the Distrezz-it-All by Zutter. This is a great tool for distressing. I just love it!

I thought I would try out this fleur de lis stencil by Want2Scrap with gold embossing paste.

I added 3 around the image. Now wait for them to dry.

It took awhile, but they finally dried.

I spread a layer of Distress Stickles all over the image. I love how you can get clear rock candy in a jar with a brush in it for applying it over a larger area. 

Let it dry completely. You can speed it up with a heat gun.

I wanted a bit of subtle bling. I chose an assortment of metallic sequins. I used an extra mini size brad for the centers.

Here it is almost finished.

I just added silver leafing Krylon pen to the edges of the card base.

All done! I like how it is royal, for a male or female. This would make a great anniversary or birthday card. Well that is all for now, please stop back soon.

Vintage Birthday

Today is the last of the vintage postcards for awhile. They have been so much fun to work with. I hope you have enjoyed them as well.

I decided to combine two cards into one. I chose these two.

I wanted just the verse from this one.

I know I am using my Krylon gold leafing pen a lot this week, but it goes so well with all of the postcards. I went aound all of the edges of both pieces.

I cut out an intricate corner piece from Memory Box in a lawn green card stock.

I did not want the wording in the center, but I also was not sure how to cover it up. I took a chance and grabbed a small piece of fine sandpaper. Slowly and gently I rubbed across the words to see if they would disappear. It worked!

I wanted to make some tiny flowers to match up with those on the card. I scribbled with some distress markers onto a craft sheet.

Spritzed it all with some water.

I rubbed a piece of Ranger watercolor paper through it and then dried it.

Next I cut a bunch of flowers using the smallest one I had. Again I think this is a Memory Box die.

I then roughly added a bit more color to the edges of the flowers.

I then pulled all of the petals up for dimension. 

I also added some color to the edges of this piece.

Looking good so far! I used mini glue dots to attach all of the die cuts. I put the verse on with pop dots.

I then added some yellow to the centers of all the paper flowers.

I let the yellow dry for a couple of minutes, then I added a touch of red.

Almost done, just needs the card back put on.

I really like this one! It turned out even nicer than I imagined. Well this is the end of the week. I hope you enjoyed all of the projects. Maybe you were even inspired to run to your local antique store for a few vintage postcards, or dig out some that you had been hoarding away for awhile. Thanks again for joining me on my creative adventures this week. Please stop by next week for more fun.

Snow Trees

Well this is a quick and easy one today. I planned this out last night as I knew I would be gone all day today and would not have a lot of time.

Here is the vintage postcard I chose for this project. 

I decided to tear around the image.

I added a bit of ink around the edges of the image and the card front.

I stamped these trees in the corner and then embossed them.

Next I took some translucent embossing paste with the dot fade stencil and put them in the adjacent corner. I thought this would look like snow flurries, which is on the postcard already.

This is how the paste looks when it is wet. The longest part of this project is waiting for this to dry. It takes anywhere from 20-40 minutes to dry. I have been researching to see if it can be heat set. It is not recommended, but some say you can do it "gently".

I waited the full time. This is what it looks like dry. It is similar looking to clear embossing. 

This is the full card front all done.

I attached it to a deep brown card stock for the card back.

This is it all finished. It is simple, but I really like how it turned out. Thanks again for stopping by. I will be back tomorrow, I hope you will be too.