Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

Hello all and happy Friday! It's the 5th Friday in April and that means we are having tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey. Several design team members are sharing tags today, so do go and check them out!!

I used two size 10 tags to create this project, because I wanted to use one of my Tim Holtz mixed media dies and have the bottom tag peep through. I had a specific purpose in mind for this tag, as you will see in a moment. I'll give you a quick run through of how I got there..

I started with adding some Grunge Paste through a stencil. I am sorry, unfortunately I don't know the maker of this particular one... I also added some Finnabair Clear Crackle paste to various corners.

Next I cut with one of the mixed media dies and then added colour with the help of Distress Paint and spray in Antique Linen and various colours of the new Distress Crayons, - Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso.

I really should have cut the die first, as |I wanted it in this particular corner, I had to turn the tag over before cutting, giving me a less crisp cut on the front, - ah well, live and learn....

Next I worked on the second tag, covering it with tissue wrap and then adding similar colours of Distress product. I also added some tissue tape to have some more text showing.

Time to gather some embellishments, various Ideaology pieces and some cut out stamped images. Like usual I gathered some more as I was putting my tag together as you can see below.

And here you can see the tag all layered up. I added the little globe die cut still, a gift from my lovely teamy Julie. I offset the two explore die cuts to create a kind of shadow effects and also added some background stamping, some remnant rubs and shadows to bring it all alive.

Now, what is the tag for you may ask? Well, to become part of the cover of one of my sketchbooks, a lovely Moleskine one that is just the right size and had become really grubby so it needed a make over.

I covered the front with a layer of extra thick gesso, not worrying about the inner part that was going to be covered anyway.

I added some texture around the edges by pouncing a pallet knife while the gesso was still wet. I love the stucco effect you get with that.

I then coloured it with Acrylic paint and adhered the tag in the center, and voilà.

As you can see, the tag is the perfect size for this sketchbook. Here are some close ups still:

Both the metal element and the number 14 were coloured and distressed with Distress Crayons, they are great for that, much quicker and easier than either paint or alcohol ink, and once they are heat set they are permanent.

The words in red were all stamped using a very old Tim Holtz stamp, Photo Studio, I stamped them in Maroon Red Archival.

Below finally is the back of the sketchbook:

I had this bit of rice paper with the vintage car on it that I adhered to the back cover. I then blended it into the background with the help of some Distress paint and crayons, finally I stamped around the edges using part of a La Blanche stamp.

Well, that's it for now. Hope you will take a look at the amazing tags my teamies have created, no shortage of inspiration. Meanwhile, thank you for visiting here and have a great weekend!

xxx

Happy Earthday and safe travels

Hello dear friends! As many of you will know it's earth day today, the day when we celebrate the beauty and tranquility of our beautiful planet. So I wanted to wish you all Happy Earthday by sharing this card created as a card to wish friends safe travels.

We all know how much our beautiful earth, and the creatures that live upon it, are under threat, from environmental onslaughts, from terrorists and wars to name but a few. I think Earthday is perfect to bring greater awareness to these problems and to call on each of us to make responsible decisions.

OK, enough philosophy, onto my card:

I have no step by step photos, but will give you a quick run through the details. As you can see there are quite a few layers. I wanted a shabby grungy feel to this card so distressed the layers.
A piece of 7 x 7 scrapbook paper was treated with gesso, inks splatters and background stamping.

The globe was cut from metallic card, run through a Tim Holtz embossing folder and then coloured with some Alcohol Inks.

This layer was created with a piece of torn watercolour paper run through the same embossing folder and then I added some scraps of the top layer of a paper serviette with collage medium.

The top right corner needed something to balance out the other embellishment, it's a resin crown (I think from Prima?) I have had in my stash since ages.

A shabby Petaloo flower, some ribbon, twine and foliage and two little labels to wish my friends safe travels.

And that was pretty much it. I don't enter challenges very often, but as this one fits the Earthday challenge over at Anything but Cute, I thought I would add it there.

Thank you for your visit like always and HAPPY EARTHDAY!!!

You are the source of all change on the planet. If you tend to your internal peace

You're tending to Peace on Earth

                                               Panache Desai

A birthday card for little A

Hello lovely visitors, I hope you are all keeping well!
A super quick post from me today, just to share a birthday card I did for one of my grand daughters who will turn two soon.

Just a quick word of explanation: little Arielle loves her food, she also loves chickens, so with that in mind I put this card together. Also in Australia where she lives it is now Autumn, so that's the reason for the rather Autumnal colours.
Here is the inside:

The stamps I used are by Sheena Douglas, the papers and dies are mostly Heartfelt Creations.

I coloured the stamp with Derwent Inktense pencils and blended with a Dove Blender pen, which worked brilliantly, so I was very pleased with that discovery. Arielle has a little red rain suit just like the child in the foreground is wearing, and her sister Lucia has a coat not unlike the blue one the other child has on.

The birthday greeting is on the other side of the tag which is only adhered up to the fold line.

The card closes with a little flap and a little round velcro fastener. And for once, though I don't usually share family photos, here is a photo of her taken a few weeks ago.

Well that's it for now, thanks for your visit like usual and I hope you are having a good week.
xxx

Destination Inspiration at a Vintage Journey

Hello all and here we are, the start of a new week already again... April is just flying by.

Today it is my turn to share a so called "Destination Inspiration" piece over at A Vintage Journey.
Here is just a little snippet of the full project:

If you want to see more, just click HERE.

I had great fun putting this together and there are full how to instructions over there.

Like always, thanks for your visit today and I'll be back with a full project over here soon.

Have a happy week!

xxx

Altered folder for Shimmerz

Hello all, thanks for dropping in. Today is just a preview day I am sorry to say. If you want to see the full project, please hop over to the Shimmerz Blog.

Three guesses how this project started..... Well, if you want to know for sure, - you'll just have to hop over. Hope to see you there and thanks for dropping by here too!

xxx

Practise, practise, practise

Hello all and thanks for dropping in. In the last few weeks I have been playing quite a bit with watercolours, trying to master this tricky medium a little better. I was not really sure whether I should share what I have been up to, but seeing that after I shared some recent moody watercolour landscapes many of you said you wanted to see more, I thought oh well,-  so here goes, - a series of little flower and other nature elements practice pieces....

Some of these were done from photos, others from real life. In this one, the nest was from a photo, the blossoms and leaf I picked on a recent walk.

Mistletoe and Hawthorn, much loved by ancient druids for their magical properties (from photos)

Hawthorn blossom, an interpretation done from memory.

The next two are very poor attempts to capture moods in a looser style, they were inspired by the amazing watercolour artist Ann Blockley

The background on this one is really terrible, but hey ho, I decided to show it anyway....

Well, - there you go, - practice, practice, practice, - I need to do a lot more of that, but if nothing else, at least I am having fun, that's if I don't get too frustrated with myself. 

Thanks for indulging me with these little pieces, have a good weekend and see you next time

xxx

Mixed Media playtime fun

Hello all, - hope you are having a good week!
I am still on my last two days of holidays and had some  fun playing with different stuff and experimenting really for another project. Here is the result:

I have no step out photos, but will give you a quick run down on my process. It all started with playing with some Bister powders in combination with Walnut Ink crystals by Tsukineko. I splattered them around on watercolour paper. sprayed with water, tipped and tilted and watched the stuff play and intermingle.

I was not too happy with the middle section, so covered it  with some gesso streaks, a few splatters and finally with torn strips of paper from the  Prima Time Traveller 6 x 6 collection, making sure that the white edges showed.

Next I die cut Mr Rainman (Tim Holtz for Sizzix) from the same collection, choosing a darker piece and then overstamping with white Snowflake Fresco Finish paint and an old script stamp.

Some words die cut from the same paper, using the Tim Thinlets Adventure die set.

Some back ground stamping with Black Stazon Ink

And finally mounting it on black card and then grey thicker card.

That's it, like I said, just a bit of experimenting and fun, but having fixed a little easel on the back, it will stand up and might just land up becoming a birthday card for a male friend.

Thanks for dropping by like always and have a great week!

Of Colour and Fabric and things....

Hello all and thanks for dropping in.

It's been a while since I did some more in my technique's journal, but today I am sharing another page.

It started with a size 8 manilla tag that I covered in cotton calico fabric. I then added some swirls with Ranger clear embossing paste through one of Tim's stencils to act as a resist for the colours.

Colour was added with Distress sprays, they turned a bit dark, I probably should have wetted the fabric first....

Next I stamped the Indigoblu blazing poppies stamp on thin paper fussy cut parts of it and coloured it with Distress ink (Fossilized Amber). I highlighted some of the small flowers with a white gel pen.

I stamped the same stamp again but this time just fussy cut the flowers and a couple of the leaves and gave them a slightly deeper tone in the centre for more depth. Before adhering them to the layer below I added a tiny bit of stained cheese cloth. I also stamped and coloured a butterfly, I have no idea any more who made that stamp, sorry. The background page was created with a mix of Decoart and Distress paints and stencilled with Archival inks

The final stage was to add another butterfly, this one is from the Tim Holtz butterfly duo that has its own embossing folder.

And here finally is the finished page in my journal

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for your visit like always and have a wonderful weekend!