Tim Holtz's 12 tags of 2014 March Smudge Stamping

Back with another Tim tag! I really enjoyed learning this technique when I took Creative Chemistry.  I really struggled with it today.  When I did it during Creative Chemistry I used a Halloween stamp set, so everything went together.  Most of my stamps aren't sets.  I started off thinking I would do a sewing theme.  Scrapped it.  Then a travel theme.  Scrapped it.  I finally settled on using a music stamp, a dress, and a bird.  They have nothing in common, but I love the result!

I really like the subtlety of the entire thing.  It's so girly.  

The ribbon is a vintage strap.  I can picture it being on this dress.  I stuck pretty close to how Tim completed his tag.  I stamped my first generation on a tag and then used the second generation for the final result.  I added distress marker to my craft sheet and used the watercolor pen to add highlights to the dress. 

I don't have a spritzer so I used a mini mister that I filled with a couple drops of alcohol ink and water to mist some faded dots to the top and the bottom of the tag.  A little washi tape completed the basic tag.  

I smudged the entire tag with pumice stone to finish. 

Elegant and gorgeous.  

Want to know what I did with the ones I passed over?

I gessoed over the entire thing.  The images from the sewing themed tag I tried still peeked through but I liked the effect.  I rubbed distress stain in Squeezed Lemonade over the entire surface.  I then layered with a crack pattern stencil to add dimension.  I cut flowers out of cardstock using the Tattered Florals die.  I put Pickled Raspberry, Broken China, and Spiced Marmalade Distress Stain on the craft sheet and spritzed with water.  I ran the largest and the second smallest through the stain once.  I dried them and ran them through again.  I then sprayed them with Perfect Pearls and crumpled them.  I dried again and used Scattered Straw Distress Ink to highlight the wrinkles.  The blue flowers are a mixture of Broken China and Peacock Fathers Distress Ink.  I put the flowers together using brads with a pearl center. I used the negative from the die cut to make embossing paste (colored with Alcohol Ink)flowers.  I put a tiny bit of translucent glitter on them before they dried.   I used Pickled Raspberry Ink on the edges.  The tiny text was colored with the blue that was on the ink dauber.  I attached it to the tag using the tiny attacher.  

 

 

They are having a pearl challenge on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog that I will enter this tag into.  It also works for the Frilly and Funkie stencils and texture challenge.  Over at the Artful Times they are having an Anything Goes challenge.  This is anything, so I will add it onto that challenge too!

Remember I said I tried a couple different tags before I settled on the dress tag.  I will be back later in the week to show you what I did with the other one I passed over.  

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Prima Fairy Belle Album

I love this Prima Fairy Belle paper.  It's not available from them, but you can track it down on line.  This post is very picture heavy.  Very.  You've been warned....

Whew! You made it to the end.  I hope you like this album as much as I do.  

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Simon Says Stamp Designer Spotlight Winner and Fussy and Fancy Challenge Winner

My immortal Beloved Cameo is featured on the Simon Says Stamp blog!

Check out the original post here.  You can see how I created this creepy cool tag.  

Thank you to the ladies at Simon Says Stamp for the honor!

My Proof that a Heart has a Thing with Wings tag was chosen in the top five on the Fussy and Fancy Challenge blog.  Check out that original post here. A huge Thanks to Fussy and Fancy too.

What a great day!

Jess

Creating with modeling paste

The Simon Says Stamp Blog is having a texture challenge this week.  I really liked design team member Andrea's use of modeling paste paste and embossing powder.

Full disclosure.  I thought I totally botched this tag.  I pulled out the tag and immediately stamped on the image I wanted to use.  Then grabbed my stencil and slapped on the paste.  It didn't hit me until after I removed the stencil that I had not done a darn thing to the background. So I had a single stamped image and some white modeling paste.  Way to go me.  Rather than start over I forced myself to keep going.  Ready?

I embossed the paste with gold and then ran my black distress marker over the areas where the embossing powder didn't stick.  I put it on so it would be a bit patchy.  I used the water pen to bleed the black out a tad. That gave me the idea to color in the stamp using my distress markers and stains.  

 The only time I have used this technique was when I learned how to do it in Creative Chemistry.  I really love the subtle shading.  

Now, remember at this point my background was still plain manila tag.  I grabbed my chalks and used a mossy green and tan to give the tag color.  I ran distress ink in Vintage Photo around the edges.  It still wasn't enough.  

I randomly used Remnant Rubs on the top and bottom of the tag.  Still not enough.  Final touch was Walnut Ink.  I spritzed it on and quickly rolled a paper towel over the top to soak up any excess.  

The ribbon is an old cloth measuring tape.  The Grungeboard tag is the little piece that comes on the package so you can feel the thickness.  I ran it through an embossing folder to give it texture.  It is painted with Mowed Lawn Distress Stain and the brown is Vintage Photo.  A token and safety pin complete the top.

A big brown button and a bit of gold tulle finish the tag.
Over at the Frilly and Funky blog they are having a texture and stencil challenge that I will enter this tag into as well.  

Hope you like it.  

What have you been crafting?

Jess

Altered Box Using Tim Holtz's Rusted Enamel Technique

Over at the Artful Times Blog they are having an altered box challenge.  I have had this kraft paper box floating around for sometime.  It was from work and some tiny stuffed animals that we no longer carry came in it.

It's cute, but not my style.  Here is what I came up with...

I started to distress the box using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.  I smudged it on in small patches and then covered it with clear embossing powder.  When Tim does this with a tag he gives it a couple good flicks to knock off loose embossing powder.  I couldn't really flick the box so I used a paint brush and my finger to remove extra embossing powder.  Once I covered the whole box with the ink and embossed it I went back with my Vintage Photo Distress Ink and rubbed that over the entire surface of the box.  The brown ink sinks into the nooks and crannies making the surface look like old leather.  I didn't think the ink was dark enough so I ran my Vintage Photo Distress Stain all around to get a darker color.  

The top had a big label that I peeled off and there was a bunch of residue left behind.  I covered it with a piece of paper and spritzed it with Walnut Ink.  I had roughed up the edges of the paper, but it was lacking something.  I had some of this rusted metal ribbon in two different widths.  The smaller one worked perfectly. 

You can really see the texture in this photo.  

I was pretty happy with how the top was coming along and decided to start working on the inside. You can see from the first picture that the interior was cute flowers.  I would

have worked nicely for another project, but I really wasn't going for cute.  Several months ago I bought a card catalog and it is full of cards.  Full.  The sucker weighs about 100 pounds.  I knew I would use them for something.  They have been patiently waiting for me.

There they are tucked in the corner.

I lined the interior of the box with cards in various directions.  I used Mod Podge to stick them down.  Once they were in I spritzed with the Walnut Ink and Perfect Pearls.

I wanted the interior to reflect a little bit of what was on the outside.  I used a smaller piece of the paper that I used on the top.  I was a dope and closed the box while it was drying.  Since the paper is thinner than the cards it buckled a bit.  I didn't want to rip it out and after looking at it for a bit I decided I liked it.  It looks like it's an old label that is starting to lift after being in there for years.  

The flowers are from Jolee's Boutique and I believe the butterfly is from K & Company.  I colored the pearls using alcohol inks.  I changed out the ribbon from the bright orange to the muted blue seam binding.  

I added some Tim Holtz's Ideaology feet.   

Then a drawer pull that long ago lost it's pull.

The final piece was an award ribbon with a frozen Charlotte.  I love Charlottes.

She is tucked inside of a grunged up tart tin.  

My transformation is complete! 

What have you been crafting?

Jess

My Immortal Beloved Cameo

Over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Blog they have a cameo challenge.  I started to do a sweet cameo project.  I was thinking one the cameos I had looked Roman, so maybe I would do an Italian themed project.  Then I found a not so sweet cameo and totally changed direction.  Here is what my final project looks like.

I love, love, love it.  Everytime I touched it it got grungier.  Here's how I did it.  

I smudged a bit of each Distress Stain on my craft sheet.  I sprinkled on some Perfect Pearls and then misted the whole lot with some water.  I ran the tag through once and dried it.  Then ran it through a couple more times, drying between layers.   I used one of my favorite background stamps from Stampers Anonymous.

I crumpled the tag and ran Black Soot Distress Ink on the edges.  I ran a bit over the top to highlight the wrinkles too.  

The frame was a minty green, so I painted it with Ten Second Studio patina paint.  If you haven't used their patina paint it is fantastic. You can patina wood, glass, plastic, metal.  It rocks.  

Since the cameo is a skeleton I wanted to pick a creepy sentiment.  My immortal beloved is perfect.  

The ribbon is old sari silk that I colored using the same distress stains that I used on the tag.  

I hope you like my dark cameo as much as I do.  I think she is lovely.  

I am going to enter this tag into the Take a Word Anything Vintage Challenge.

What have you been crafting? 

Jess

Altered Playing Cards

Over at the Eclectic Paperie blog they are having an Altered Playing card challenge.  I have never thought about using a playing card as the base for a project.  I had a lot of fun and will definitely make more.  Here is what I came up with for the challenge.

The background was roughed up by sanding it a bit. I then added Broken China Distress Paint.  Various washi tapes were added for dimension.  I dirtied everything up with Pumice Stone Distress Ink.  The little fairy is from Lisa's Altered Art.  The flower is from Recollections.  I colored it using Distress Inks.  The Happy chipboard is from MME.  

I think she is super cute.  I love how the card still peeks through, so you know what it was originally.  

Here is lovely lady number two.  This one started with Mowed Lawn Distress Paint.  I added a layer of Distress Crackle and then rubbed Vintage Photo Distress Stain in the cracks.  I tinted modeling paste with green and gold alcohol ink to stencil the dots on the side.  A little bit of paper on the side feels rather like a yearbook page to me.  I thought this fairy looked like she was posing for a school photo, so they mimic each other.  Remnant rubs add depth to the background.  The fairy and the words are outlined with a black marker.  The flowers on top are Mod Melts that have been tinted with the same alcohol ink colors I used for the modeling paste.  

I love the snarky sentiment.  

I loved doing these and can't wait to make more.  

What have you been crafting? 

Jess