Believe in Joy

Howdy!  The wind chill is fierce today and going to be very cold for the next few weeks.  I am bundled up crafting in my cozy craft room.  Having so many supplies lining the wall gives me extra insulation. :)

I was working on Tim's tag for December. It took me awhile and I came up with my take on his inspirational tag. 

I created about 6 pieces of burlap backgrounds and couldn't get the effect I wanted. I moved onto canvas and was happy with the way the stencil showed up on a golden background.  This set the tone for the tag a mix of Aged Mahogany and Gold.

The background was sprayed with gold mist and let dry.  I then sponged the dye ink over the stencil on the background.

To emulate the letterpress technique:  1. Sponged on dye ink on the embossing folder and embossed the paper.   2. Stenciled with embossing paste and when dry dragged the dye ink over the surface to add a shadow of color.

The charms were all colored using a Krylon pen to give them the golden tones.  The finishing touch was a sprinkling of Stampendous Luxe mixture of glitter and mica flakes.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Faith has Wings

Hi!  I am sharing a tag today inspired by Tim Holtz's January tag.  Tim is featuring a remix of two previous tags using the foil and chalk technique.  I started with the foil and then used a stamped image in place of the chalk technique. 

The foil embossing is the Sizzix Layered Butterfly.  I embossed on a piece of foil and then tore it in half to apply to either end of my tag.  I then had this stamped image on my desk that I had been playing with and thought it would look lovely with the wings.  I redid it a few times to get it the way I wanted it with the clouds in the background.

Products: Sizzix Tim Holtz Layered Butterfly,  Stampington - Susanna, Stampendous - Sentiment, Stampscapes - Clouds

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Chalkboard Tags

The chalkboard craze has eluded me until I saw Tim's tag this month.  He had me trying something new and fun. My example didn't turn out like his but I was very happy with the results and ended up with two different tags.

My first attempt: 

 I started with stamping the image on black cardstock using versamark.  I heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I then sprayed goose bumps over the background to create snowflakes.  I waited until it dried and then smeared chalk across the surface.

My embossed image didn't pick up the chalk but it gave a beautiful soft white backdrop.  I added the sentiment and was done.  I love how this turned out. It reminded me of those nights when the snow is coming down and it is very quiet and you can feel the quiet. :)

My second attempt:

 I didn't emboss the image and smeared STAEDTLER karat soft pastel chalk over the versamark image.  I smeared versamark along the bottom to pick up the chalk.  I colored the stars through the stencil with a white gel pen.  I embossed in black the sentiment over the chalk along the bottom.  I wiped off the excess chalk with a damp wipe.

The image and sentiment are Stampers Anonymous.

Have a wonderful week!

Suzz

Tim's October Tag

Tim's October tag really challenged me as I had none of the shapes he used on his tag.  I decided to use my tag background I created a few months ago for his tag. I decided to add an owl in a silly birdcage using the bright colors he used in his tag.

 The background was created last month and I added a touch of purple paint to the surface. I then used the stamps from Artistic Outpost Whimsical Melange, Gothic 31, Halloween Treats, Vintage Halloween.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Suzz

Say Hello to My Peeps!

Happy Friday!  These little Stampendous Chicks are some of my favorite peeps!  I love their Easter finery.   Tim's awesome March tag inspired me to create an Easter tag using the chicks.  

 I started with the chicks who were stamped, colored and cut out. 

The egg is hand drawn and the center cut out using an oval die.  I embossed the egg frame using an embossing folder. I sponged on pink and brown dye inks and added a hint of the glimmer mist used in the background.

The inside of the egg is covered with tinsel. The tinsel was Pink and I added a  hint of the orange Alcohol Inks.  I pop dotted the frame to allow me to fit the one chick inside the egg an the other on the outside.  I die cut a stand from the Sizzix Cloche set. I added a little doily to the stand and pop dotted the egg onto the stand.

The background of the tag was is a mix of pink dye ink and a yellow glimmer mist. I sprayed the glimmer mist onto the craft mat added some water and dragged the tag through it.  I waited for it to dry and repeated the process with pink dye ink.

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap piece of cardstock died in the inks.  I cut it to a tag shape. The ribbons and flowers were spritzed to coordinate. (I actually did this first so I could use the leftover ink from the spray on my cardstock/tag)

Products: Sizzix Bell & Cloche Die, Sixxiz Embossing Folder, Spellbinders - Oval Dies, Stampendous Easter Joy Stamp, Stampendous Posie Bonnet Baby , Stampendous Floral Bonnet Baby,  
STAEDTLER Aqua Karell Watercolor Pencils

Hope your weekend is wonderful!

Suzz

Vintage Wedding Tag

Time for Tim's Tag for May!  I combined it with the Moxie Fab World Challenge to use Lace/Doilies, I have a little of both on my tag. 
 

My younger brother is getting married and I am thinking this is going to have to be part of his gift!

I started with the manila tag and added the layer of the sewing pattern paper.  I cut the pattern to capture the bits I wanted on my tag.

Stamp the dress form onto sewing pattern using purple ink.  Stamp button in black over the dress form. Cut out.  Stamp the dress form in purple directly onto the tag with the sewing pattern applied.  Attach the dress form over the stamped dress form. Stamp a row of the needle book along the top using purple ink.

The rest was a little sponging around the edges with Ranger Distress Inks - Concord and piling on the lace, tulle, doily, pearls, flowers and accessories. In real life it is so much softer and pretty. :)

I dipped the flowers in the beeswax mixed with a touch of glitter.  My flowers are flowers from the wedding section and it has a much heavier in the effect than the UTEE and paper flowers.  I like the effect Tim had on his flowers much better. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

The birds of spring!

I was inspired by Tim's tag for April... Although it doesn't take much for me to pull out a stamp with a bird or something to do with nature! :)  Lisa's Blogger's Challenge this week  is For the Birds. 

Here is my take on Tim's tag:

I started with a frame scrap that I had leftover from a die previously cut. (I went through three of these leftovers before I achieved the effect I wanted. Luckily I had that many of them in my scrap box. :)

Stamp Memory Box Elegant Damask using black ink onto frame. Sponge with orange and brown dye ink.
Die cut branch (Memory Box).  Stamp Memory Box Mail Definition stamp  onto branch and tag using black ink. Sponge branch with brown dye ink.

Stamp bird (Memory Box)  using Broken China onto cardstock. Cut out with scissors. Stamp Sentiment (Memory Box) using black ink on tissue paper. Tear out and sponge with orange and brown dye ink.

Sponge background of tag using blue dye ink and brown dye ink. Distress edges.

Inks: Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Coffee, Ranger Distress Inks - Broken China, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain

Have a lovely Tuesday!

Suzz

Mosaic Tiles

Tim Holtz is creating a tag a month. March's Tag uses a cool technique with butterflies and created a mosaic effect.  It inspired me to pull out my Triptych template to create what was supposed to be like a stained glass window. :)

 A slightly different view:

It ended up much darker than I intended and I am not sure if I liked the end result but I finished it off with some lovely verses and cross from Our Daily Bread Designs.   I am liking it more now so maybe it is one of those projects that grows on you. LOL! 

I do want to try this again on acetate with masking and see if I could really achieve more of a stained glass effect. I ran out of time to play today. Will have to try that another time.

Tim's post describes how to create the background so I won't repeat it. I will just provide my product list:
Our Daily Bread Designs: Grunge Cross, It is well with My Soul, The Light of Life, With Heartfelt Sympathy, White Acrylic Paint, Stampendous Aged Silver Embossing Enamel, Ranger Archival Ink - Black

Have a lovely Friday!

Suzz

Cupid

Let's try this again. :)  Simon Says Stamp and Show anything Goes, Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Monochromatic +1, and yeah!  Tim's 12 Tags.

I feel much better about my tag today than my card yesterday.  Yesterday's card needs something else but I couldn't think of what so I moved on. 

Tim has decided to make his 12 tags a monthly tag. Here is Tim's Tag.

Here is my tag:

I had seen this beautiful tinsel at Michael's in the spring section.  Yesterday it was on sale for 40% off and the end of the tinsel roll had this adorable cupid image on both sides. So I picked it up and brought it home and popped those images off the sides. :)

That was the inspiration for my tag.  I glimmer misted canvas tape and stamped the Verses How Do I love Thee on the tape in black ink.  I used that to form my frill around my image.  I applied the beautiful tinsel around the edge.

The background on the tag is the same Verses Rubber Stamp stamped in versamark and heat embossed using clear embossing powder.  I then sponged on Ranger Distress Inks - Victorian Velvet over the surface. I added a little watermarks with some Perfect Pearls Misting.

The Love sentiment is Memory Box.  The flourish is from Hero Arts and is stamped using Ranger Distress Inks Vintage Photo.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz