Tags & Techniques

Howdy!  A blessed Sunday to you.  I have to say the beginning of the month when Tim posts his new tag for the month is always something I look forward to.  His techniques always inspire me to create.  Tim's September tag used the alcohol inks and yupo paper for one of the techniques. 

I am happiest when I am stamping.  I love mixing the stamped images together and creating a blend of stamps together into a cohesive design.

This month's tag and technique used a resist technique which game me lots of fun ways to play with my stamps and stencils.

I started with a patina background on the tag.

 I admit I ended up not using this tag in my finished project as I wanted to get close to the colors on my stamped background.  I will save this one for another project. I love how the patina looks and could have created many of these backgrounds in different colors.

Next I tried about 3 failed attempts with the alcohol ink backgrounds. I was trying to mix colors and they were beautiful but not cohesive to give a strong imprint and I also tried a few stamps that weren't solid enough in the image to translate well on the resist.

I finally settled on an alcohol ink background with a mix of slate, eggplant, and mushroom.

 Next I used an ultra-violet archival ink to stamp the butterfly and script onto the background. I stamped the butterfly first and cleaned it off following Tim's instructions and then I did the script.

I then tried on several scraps to use the blending ink with the stencil to get the numbers/words. The blending alcohol will bleed and I didn't like how I was applying it so I decided to sponge on the same archival ink through the stencil and was very happy with the crispness of the letters.

Another tip:  The Yupo paper is so wonderful that I was able to flip over one of my failures and use the reverse side for my card.  I also had another failure with the resist which I was able to just ink over again with alcohol inks and start again.  Like a magic eraser!  

I was having so much fun stamping with the resist that I decided to create another stamped collage.

 On the bottom  you can see some smearing this was because I didn't carefully remove the excess ink.  Tim talks about it in  his tutorial.  Just thought I would mention it because I did try very carefully but I am a very messy stamper and missed some ink. :)

Have a lovely Sunday!

Suzz

Products:  Memory Box - Dreams (Text), Stampers Anonymous - Butterfly, Stampers Anonymous - Branch, Inkadinkadoo - Birds, Wendy Vecchi - Stencil,  Tim Holtz Layering Stencil, Hero Arts - French Script, Ranger Archival Inks - Ultra-Violet, Alcohol Inks - Eggplant, Slate, Mushroom, Blending Solution, Ranger - Paints - Wilted Violet, Lavender, Gold, Picked Raspberries, Silver

Sail Away

Ship Ahoy!  I just received a postcard stamp and my first instinct was to pull out my flowers but I decided to see what masculine stamps would go with the Postcard Stamp.  I decided to use the new Darkroom Door Frame Postcard  with the ship from the beautiful Sail Away set.

I was pleased with how the ship fit in the postcard.   I added a hint of color with the Ranger Distress Inks - Salty Ocean, and STAEDTLER watercolor pencils.  Behind my post card I stamped a panel using the Darkroom Door Background Stamp - Woodgrain stamped in Ranger Archival Ink - Potting Soil

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

The challenge this week at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is all about all-stars. What I created this week use many of  my all-stars and some of my favorite things in my stamping stash!  This month is Stamptember at Simon Says Stamp there are give-aways, inspiration and a month long stamp party!

I just kept pulling out all my favorites and piling them up on my craft desk and figured the best way to showcase them all was to mix them together in a tag book.

My project started from the Graphic 45 Kraftboard Tag Album which gave me a booklet to showcase all my favorites.  I painted the background with a coat of white acrylic paint.

Here is a close up of each tag: 

 The white acrylic paint used to soften the background, colors or provide a surface to paint on is one of my all stars.  The script in the background is one of my favorites and I used it to add texture or depth to my background.  Flowers and a beautiful sentiment are always top on my list to use on my projects and the Stampendous sentiment is one of my favorites as is the Fleurettes from Hero Arts.

Products: Stampendous Life is Art, Hero Arts - Fleurettes, Hero Arts - Old French Writing, Ranger Distress Ink - Picked Raspberries, Waterbursh, Ranger Archival Ink.

 This dragonfly is beautiful and striking. I love stamping it and coloring it!  The waterbrush and watercolor pencils are my all-star and easy for me to pull out and add a touch of color. 

Products: Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Tim Holtz - Idea-ology - Tissue Tape, Stampers Anonymous - Classics #1, STAEDTLER Watercolor Pencils, Studio Calico - HeyDey, May Arts - Rose Trim, Natural Twine,

The Outpost is one of my all time favorites. I grew up in the Midwest and the farms and fences are something I love to see when we go visiting my extended family. 

Products: Artistic Outpost - The Outpost, Hero Arts - Old French Writing, Ranger Archival Ink - Black, May Arts - Ruler Ribbon

Birds are one of my favorites and tend to show up quite a bit on my projects. I picked on of my favorites with a touch of music.

Products: Prima - Wood Button, Artistic Outpost - Quotes and Quotable, Stampendous - Song Bird, Stampers Anonymous Visual Artistry Life's Possibilities, Signo Uni-Ball White Gel Pen, Pearl, Tim HOltz - Lavish Trim

I couldn't have an all-stars and not use a butterfly.  I definitely use my butterflies more than anything and the jumbo cling butterflies from Stampendous has three beautiful butterflies that get pulled out and used quite a bit!

Products: Stampendous Jumbo Butterflies, Artistic Outpost - Quotes and Quotable, Hero Arts - Silhouette Fern, Clearsnap - Antique Moss,Tim Holtz Lavish Trim

Pick out your all-stars and ink them up and join us at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for a chance to win a $50 Gift voucher for  Simon Says Stamp. 

A little bit of info about Stamptember and Simon Says Stamp:

Simon Says Stamp was founded in 2002 with an interest in exclusively selling rubber stamps. It didn’t take long until we realized we couldn’t stop there. During the past 11 years we celebrate rubber stamping in its full glory by giving access to people around the world to a one stop shop. Rubber stamps still remain the heart of our business and we are celebrating by hosting a STAMPtember® event intended to inspire, educate, and celebrate the greatness of rubber stamping. Part of the enticement of rubber stamping is that stamps can be used in creating or complementing ANYTHING! From stamping dates on bank documents and postage parcels in the early 18th century, rubber stamping has dramatically expanded to include card making, scrapbooking, mixed media, life documenting, art journaling, and many forms of altering and expressing art.

There is a fabulous line up of guest designers, tutorials and giveaways.  Don't forget to check back everyday on the Simon Says Stamp blog! 

Thanks for stopping by!


Suzz