Closing eyes, dreaming big...

Today I created for you a joyful tag with mixed media painting and drawing.







 It’s created on the cardboard piece which was left over from one of Finnabair products (maybe mechanicals?). So instead of throwing it away I started with thick layer of Dina Wakley Media Line white gesso and then applied some random papers and bits of newspapers using gel medium from Dina’s range again. I love that gel medium as it also creates a very good surface for application of inks, sprays and any wet mediums. Here is work in progress photo just to confirm that there is nothing like clean desk when creativity hits!

This tag was a gift for a work friend who was leaving due to end of the contract and asked me to do something for her. I decided to make a dreamy girl with closed eyes so it’s all left to interpretation.
















Drawing was done by using combination of Neocolors II and Inktense pencils and again white gesso. To manage smaller elements and all details I used my beloved Posca pens in white and black.
I imagined her hair in some sort of chaos but still in shape and after building small buns with Noecolors I used Bombay India Inks in Aqua and Teal to draw same sort of snail shapes. By adding a little bit of water spray, then letting it dry and then repeating process I built layers of her funky hair. In this project I used Neocolors in two ways- wet and dry. Wet for more full background result (full colour on hair) and dry for volume effect (thick lines on her hair). Playing with Neocolors is such fun!:)

Finishing touches were stamps and distressing edges with Adirondack Dye Ink Pad in black. I also added bits of jewellery for her earings and wrote some thought in my messy handwriting style.
My girl left me now but will stay happy with my friend - so she is in good hands…

Hope you like her too!

Big hugs...

Honorata

Where's the snow?

I love the snow but right now we're experiencing nothing like it as we're still having to put up with mild seasonal temperatures. That might not sound like much of a pain but when the plants in the garden are growing and flowering and spring bulbs are coming out, that's bad news. Wasps and flies are still annoying us in the house and I just want the season back.

With what was still on my work table I thought I'd create my own snowy project.

For a change I've gone for a candy pink background and added some snowy texture with Golden texture paste. If you want to add some snow to cards or tags Golden is perfect as it's so light and adds no weight at all.

I used the good old sketchy Snowman from mr T Holtz which is actually on promotion at the moment.

Off doing the snow dance, Jaine x

Magda's Stampotique stamps.

I absolutely adore these Stampotique stamps by Magda called Gucio and Agatha Bee. The cat especially is the cutest and the goofy expression reminds me of my own stupid cat.

I layered a few scraps of paper on the tag then wiped over Distress paints (Picket Fence and Salty Ocean) wiping the paints off again in a few places. I used Promarkers to colour the images and used some foam pads to give them a bit of dimension.

Jaine x

A seaside tag

I thought for my post today I'd show you a bit closer the tag I created for this months colour challenge.
I was already working with the Teresa Collins Family Stories collection and this piece of wood grain paper was on my table. By painting a few black lines down the tag, I was able to give it even more of a wooden finish.

 I used a home made stencil to paint gesso onto the tag in order for me to be able to paint circles in watercolour paint.

The finishing touches are a few rub on stitches and my title.

Join in with this months challenge, the colours are so very fresh and summery.

Jaine x

Yet more texture paste.

Yes I know, yet more texture paste! I can't help it, I'm obsessed with the stuff. The Golden Crackle paste to be exact over a sprayed background and sprayed on top of when dry.

I wanted to add some machine stitching to it just to test the paste really and I'm happy to report it didn't flake, woo hooo! Happy day.

The stickers and washi tape are all from Glitz Design, the Finnley collection.

See you soon with something which isn't texture paste, maybe :)

Jaine x

It's the simple things.

I'll admit to being a pretty simple gal on the whole and it's the little things in life which give me the most pleasure. When I first saw Dyan Reaveley using this ink spray pad at winter CHA I thought it such a cool idea and couldn't wait to get my hands on one.  If you haven't seen it before it's basically an ink pad without ink! The idea is you use it to spray your inks directly onto the pad thus creating an ink pad with your own custom colours. It's washable too so you don't need to buy one for every spray colour you own.  It's not a small thing either and at a whopping 15.5 x 10.5 for the pad it'll ink up those massive background stamps easily.

 I thought I'd keep my project simple too just to show you the effect. Here I've used a black tag rather like the Ranger ones in the shop and simply stamped this Darkroom Door Birds 1 stamp using my pad and Dylusions White Linen ink directly onto the tag. The image isn't perfect but I wasn't looking for perfection. I also used the pad to create simple marks with a credit card and bottle caps and used the ink directly from the bottle to add some ink spots.

If you love your ink sprays and long to use them to stamp with, I highly recommend you get yourself this stamp pad. You'll love it.

Jaine x

Melting....

Hello!
Another blast from the past again today..... more playing with techniques I haven't done in an age!
This time its UTEE....Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. I thought I'd share a little trick I learned a while ago, creating pendants using memory frames and UTEE.
First, you need to place your memory frame on a texture tread...

Just place it,no need for glue or anything to stick it down! You can use any rubber stamps for this too although they MUST be rubber, not clear polymer stamps. They would melt..... If you are using a stamp, the frame must be in complete contact with the stamp, not hanging over an edge. You'll see why.....

Next melt some UTEE in your melt pot and pour it into the frame, taking care to use enough to go into the corners..

If the frame was hanging over the edge of a stamp, you would have just poured hot UTEE through a gap and it would be all over the place!
(Don't forget to pour excess UTEE onto your craft mat and use cookie cutters to create embellishments! No waste here!)

Once the UTEE in the frame is cold and hard, peel it off the texture tread...

I like to highlight the raised bits with a little dry brushing of silver paint...

So...a cool pendant! You can add chain or ribbon through the loop, and you have created wearable, unique art!
Or..................................
You could use it for something else. These frames are fab, as you can undo them...

and remove the UTEE completely...

You now have a UTEE tile, ready to use on another project. These are wonderful on CAS cards, with maybe a few words underneath, very classy.
or........you could go a bit bonkers and use it as a body for an art doll....

Either way, its a nice technique to have a play with!

See you soon!
Trish xxxx

Dance.Love.Sing.Live

Hello!

Today I would like to show you how I have made my tag. The weather is dull that's why I used a lot of bright colours!

I used Ranger tag Manila for a background. I put some gesso using painting knife. Firstly I put a smooth layer and than moving painting knife up and down (movement a little like beating eggs ;)) I received great texture (you can see in picture 2).

I sprayed Dylusions Ink Sprays - Bubblegum Pink and Vibrant Turquoise. I like them because they are mixed together nicely. I have only 3 colours of them but I can received much more. Mixing pink and turquoise gave me violet.

I cut some hearts ( if you have a puncher it will be much quicker ) from Glitz Yours Truly paper and used a gel medium to glue them.

For more texture I used Andy Skinner stencil. I didn't use all the skull only a part of it.

Once again I used gel medium, this time using Dylusions stencil. Before it I added more gesso & inks.

I added white glitter...

...and eyelets.

Here is a result...

Magda

It's all black and white.

For today's post I'm in a black and white mood for sure and loving the simple graphic look of what started out as one of Rangers black tags. The gorgeous background detail was created using a stencil by Balzer Design and some white acrylic paint on my gelli plate. The white pattern could equally be created with the stencil and white paint or white ink over the black tag. 

I stamped the flower and leaves from Claudine Hellmuth's stamp set on plain white card and cut them out, layering them up for some dimension. Apart from some small embellishments I didn't want to add too much as I loved the background so much I felt it a shame to cover it up. 

Happy Friday.

Jaine x

morning tag

Hello!

It was a very busy month for me...and I became a wife! I can't think of anything but love. I'm joking ;)
Here is my messy tag. This tag was made at 5am please don't expect nothing amazing from it ;)

I've used these products:
- Ranger Black tag No.8

- Glitz Yours Trully

- Tim Holtz Tissue Paper

- Claudine Hellmuth black gesso

- Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black

- Stampotique stamps

- Dylusions Spray Inks

- Donna Downey Studios stencil

Magda x

Bird Song

Well hello from the wild and windy North!   My name is Jennie and I am absolutely thrilled to be here this month as Guest Designer alongside such an amazing Design Team.  Thank you so much Vicki for inviting me.

Today I am sharing an oriental tag showcasing these two wonderful birds from the graphic45 Bird Song Collection.

I inked up a Size 10 tag with  Ranger Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade,  Rusty Hinge and Fired Brick.  I made a mask from Post It Notes for the sun  and used a Crafters Workshop Leaf Mask in the lower part of the tag.  I then stamped some Chinese Text (a Craft Stamper Freebie many moons ago!) in Fired Brick.

I fussy cut the birds from one of the labels on the sheet and used foam pads to give a little definition.  Then it was all about decorating around the birds.  All these pieces came from the graphic45 Tranquility sheet which is full of labels, stamps and borders.  It really is a quite beautiful sheet to use.

I made a little fan from some Chinese paper in my stash  and added the srim and blossoms.  Again just some old tiny white flowers I found in my stash which benefited from the addition of some stamens. 

I had a lot of fun making the tag as “oriental” is not something I normally do, but graphic45 papers are always wonderful to work with.

Thanks for looking and I look forward to seeing you later in the month with another project.

Jennie x

Tag-tastic by Gez

I am delighted to be sharing a project with you that I made using a large Tim Holtz tag, some scrummy stamps & inks..

here's a sneak peek!

For the base I used one of the large manilla No.8 {tags}

I squirted a generous blob of shaving foam onto my Ranger non stick {craft sheet}

and added a few blobs of Dr Ph. Martin's {Bombay Indian Inks} in Magenta & Teal

then set about swishing the tag through the foam..

To finish the background I added a few flicks of the Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze, fine glitter paint to add some sparkle in {Paradise Pink}

The gorgeous flower stamp brand NEW from Stampotique Originals is called Dandelion Duo, it was stamped using Aged Mahogany {Distress Ink} pad and coloured with a Derwent Graphitint pencil in {Autumn Brown}, once dry I added blobs of {Glossy Accents} to each flower. I then stamped Jo Capper-Sandon's {Big Bee} stamp onto the background, coloured the body of each bee with Bombay Inks and added acetate wings.

The sentiment (Wildflower verse) is another new design along with {Mothloved} from {Stampotique Originals} Please note.. Vicki can order any Stampotique stamps simply drop her a line, if you can't see just what you are looking for..

I finished the tag by hand stitching around the outside edge and running the chevron {roller doodle} from Glitz Design down the right hand side using {Jet Black} Archival Ink.

Many thanks for calling today. Have a great weekend. Gez

Inky Pinky

Hello!

Today I would like to show you my tag. It's a large size of #10 Manila tag by Ranger. It's a project with a few layers. It looks complicated but it isn't and the best – there are no rules! I used a lot of stuff and really don't remember what I used. Unfortunately my hubby didn't come to my studio (yet) and didn't 'steal' my project (as usual).

For the first layer I used: masking tape, white paint, Bazzill Basics Paper – Antique Newsprint and Glitz Design Yours Truly paper.

For the next layer I used: Dylusions Ink Sprays, paints and a black gesso from Claudine Hellmuth. For the third layer I used: Tim Holts Tissue Paper and Stampotique stamps. I also used Glitz Roller Doodles.

The fourth layer: white paint+glue, thread, tissue paper and Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze. Almost there!

The last layer: Ranger Liquid Pearls, Claudine Hellmuth Sticky -Back Canvas and Prima Paper Clips.

Magda x