The 12 Tags of 2013 AND a metal etching update

April really snuck up on me.  I had an idea for the March tag but before I knew it, April was upon us.  Click HERE to see what Tim did on his April tag.  It was all about the new metallic distress paints, which, sadly, I do not yet possess.  However, I do have some fluid acrylic metallics, and as their consistency is similar to the distress paints, I thought I'd give it a go.  And finally get something done on time!

Instead of working on a tag I did a birthday card on a coaster (4"x4"). 

The background directly on the coaster is from a gelli plate print.  Within that is the piece I did with one of Tim's techniques.....swiping paper through small amounts of distress paints, including a metallic.  Over that I stamped the butterfly from Tim's mini blueprint set, using black archival ink.

On Tim's tag (he used the full size dragonfly blueprint stamp), he added wings cut from Wendy Vecchi's Clearly For Art.  I stamped the little butterfly on a piece of CFA twice.  Once with black and once with magenta hue archival ink.  I wanted to see which I liked better, and decided to use both!  So I have a double set of wings.



For the body of the butterfly I used a pen nib and yet another technique for working with the distress paints......dabbing them directly onto metal.  I used pickled raspberry and a bit of the gold metallic paint I had on hand. 

The sentiment is one of Tim's word bands.  I covered it with peeled paint and broken china distress paint and then wiped the paint off, so that it settled into the letters.  It was then strung on a piece of narrow ribbon that I colored with some of the leftover paint (after misting the paint with water).

 

 

The back of the card is ready to be personalized.

 

 

 

The cupcake is from Tim's Birthday Blueprint set.  It was stamped on the same paper the front image was stamped on, cut out and adhered to plain cardstock that I inked with just about all the red/pink inks I own.   I went over the cupcake with different colors of distress markers, and I'm happy to report that the metallic shine from the underlying technique still comes through.  The little birthday greeting is a Stampin' Up stamp I've had forever.

 

In my last post I mentioned that I was working on a better closure for my little book with the etched metal covers.  Here it is!

 

 

 

And I added just a few more charms to the spine.

 

 

 

Hey, sometimes less is more, and sometimes (this time) more is better.



 









  

Happy Autumn!

This is definitely my favorite time of the year; I love a typical autumn day in NYC when the skies are blue, the air feels crisp, and there isn't even a hint of humidity to cause hair problems.
I have been keeping up with Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2012, and as expected, his October tag is all about Halloween.  I know so many people who are into that holiday, including Tim, and try as I might, it just isn't my thing.  Autumn, however, is right up my alley.  So, my entry sort of nods at Halloween, but is really about the season.  And, it's not even a tag.

Another favorite regular challenge I like to participate in is the Making Art Challenge over at the Wendy Vecchi yahoo group.  Wendy did an autumn tag recently that was featured on the Ranger website, and our challenge was to use the featured technique (adhering sticky back canvas to Wendy's Clearly For Art) and at least one of Wendy's stamps in any sort of creation.

So.....I combined the two, tried several of the techniques Tim used, and the sticky back canvas/CFA technique Wendy used, and came up with this:

 

 

Tim demonstrated making custom colored glitter with the new rock candy dry glitter and alcohol inks.  I don't have any of that product (yet), so used what I did have.....some chunky glitter, and it sure didn't work the way Tim's did, LOL.  But I love taking part in these artistic science experiments.  The larger of the two jack-o-lanterns is covered with my version.  I glittered the smaller one with plain old orange just to show the difference.  When I get some of the rock candy stuff I'll be trying that again.  BTW, the jack-o-lanterns and letters are grungeboard, from two of the many sets of pre-cut shapes I have in my stash.  I don't know if they are manufactured any more; they date back to the days before the Vagabond and Tim's Sizzix dies.  But being a good hoarder collector, I still have tons of them.

 

The tissue paper background is straight out of Tim's demo, but over top I used Wendy's background stamp from Optical Art.  On the bottom left you will see her little spider stamp from Botanical Art.  To make it stand out a bit more, I used black soot distress ink and black embossing powder.

 

All of the autumn leaves were done on the canvas covered CFA.  For those who don't know, Clearly For Art is a wonderful product (some sort of plastic, I think) that can be heated to make it bendable.  Yes, lots of products do that.  But the cool thing about CFA is that it can be heated, manipulated, then reheated if you don't like it.  It goes flat again, hardens up in seconds, and can be heated and shaped that way countless times. 

 

I cut the leaves from both the regular sized and mini tattered leaves dies, and colored them with both distress stains and Dylusions sprays.  Although they don't match up exactly, I also stamped over the colored leaves with Tim's Falling Leaves stamp set.  I used black archival ink for that, and didn't press too hard.  I just wanted a hint of the leaf veins to add some texture and realism. 

 

Happy Autumn!

 





Buttons, A Ticket, And A New Dimension

Yes!  I scored a threefer this week, and as I'm playing catch up, that's a very good thing.  (I was in Florida for a week visiting my mom, who apparently resides in the land that time forgot, LOL.  No computer, and only intermittent cell phone service).

Grungy Monday #5 is called A New Dimension, and we have to go back to Tim's blog in May of 2008 for the details of that one.  It's a very cool technique that results in a niche.  Go check it out.

Simon Says Stamp and Show some......buttons.

And in the Wendy Vecchi yahoo group, our Making Art! challenge #11 takes us to Wendy's second book, and we are to create a project that uses at least one of her stamps and some sort of a ticket.

This is what I came up with, and it's all about my latest interest......things related to sewing.  Well, the button theme pushed me that direction.

I used foamboard (a 5x7 piece) and cut my niche as per Tim's directions, and covered the board with very appropriate sewing themed paper from his latest paper stash, Crowded Attic.  Inside the niche went a tiny vial I filled with even tinier buttons, and next to it.....I love this......I stamped Wendy's bottle stamp on a piece of her CFA (Clearly For Art), heated it and then bent it so that it's roundish, like an actual bottle.  Some more buttons were glued in the niche, and then the CFA bottle was glued over them.  Is that cool, or what?  A piece of lacey trim and a wooden button finish that side of the piece.

The dress form is from Tim's Sewing Room die.  I cut it twice; once from cardstock that I inked with stained walnut and edged with black soot, and a second time from some scrap grungeboard.  I glued the two together to give it some more dimension.  I also cut the torso part out of sticky back canvas, trimmed it to fit and inked it with antique linen and walnut stain around the edges after attaching it to the dress form.

The "ticket" (no, not an actual ticket, but Lori our EWV list mom said we could use anything that was "ticket-like,") is a stamp from Wendy's Fashion Style And Art set.  It's attached to a memo pin, and hanging from it is a little pair of scissors, actually cut with a Provo die....which, thanks to Tim's latest tutorial video, I now know how to cut with my Vagabond.