Stella

Hello everyone, thank you for visiting my blog.  A particular thank you to those of you who have chosen to follow me - I appreciate that you have chosen to spend some time with me very much indeed.  This is my contribution to the  Dragon's Dream Tag-it-on challenge.  The recipe is - pink, a face, and fabric, and here's my attempt.

The stamp is by La Blanche, and I've had it quite some time so I don't know if it has a real name - I've called the lady Stella, because of the stars on the fabric.    I stamped it in Wild Plum Archival ink and blended shades of Distress Ink - Worn Lipstick, Victorian Velvet, and Tattered Rose - over the tag.

I found a scrap of tulle embroidered with stars in my stash of fabric scraps and glued it over the top of the tag (I put spots of Cosmic Shimmer glue behind some of the stars)  trimming it so that it didn't cover the face.

And, just for once, I decided that enough was enough. 

Crafty hugs,

Keren

Bright Butterfly



Hi folks!  Welcome to my blog, and thank you for visiting.  I'm not usually organised enough to be able to enter one project into more than one challenge, but it just so happens that this time one of my projects meets criteria for two blogs.  The recipe for the Dragon's Dream Tag-It-On challenge this time is- Orange, Purple and Butterflies, and The Artful Times challenge is Colour Technique - in this case, Faux Batik.

Sometimes - not often, I'll admit, but sometimes- I set out with an idea in mind and it all turns out more or less as I hoped.  Sometimes - usually when I've got a pile of bits left over from other projects and I'm playing with them - I have no clear idea in mind and I just go with the flow.  And sometimes, I set out with a clear idea of what I want to create and wind up with something completely different.  And that's what happened here.  My first thoughts were 60's psychedia - and this is what I finished up with...

I stamped the background panel (which is an old Graphicus stamp) in the Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink and heat-embossed with clear detail powder. (I did a panel rather than stamping direct onto the tag, because, after numerous attempts, I came to the conclusion that I cannot stamp straight.  I blame my astigmatism.)  That done, I went over the background of the panel and the edges of the tag with the Eggplant Adirondack ink and a few blobs of Radiant Rain to give a bit of bling. 

Then, with my iron set to "HOT", I covered the panel with a layer of paper towel and ironed it so that the embossing powder melted and was absorbed by paper.  I kept replacing the paper towels until no more of the embossing was left.  I touched the edges with some Burnished Bronze Distress Stain - just a very light touch - and attached the panel to the tag.  

The butterfly stamp was a free cover-mount from Craft Stamper magazine.  Because it's a clear stamp, I could stamp onto the butterfly die-cut ( a Spellbinders die) using the Eggplant pad, lining it all up, emboss, and go over it all with the Spiced Marmalade. While I was at it, I coloured another scrap of card, stamped the "Elusive Butterfly" sentiment (another home-made one) and die cut the label shape.  I edged the butterfly and the label with a touch of Eggplant and the label also got a tiny bit of Burnished Bronze.

Nearly done now!  The fancy "frame" I die- cut from a bit of bronze mirror card - it was too shiny (yes, it is possible) so I dabbed some bronze Distress Stain over it; coloured a scrap of card in Eggplant, dripped a couple of drops of water onto it and dabbed them off,  attached the sentiment with a couple of brads I'd coloured with alcohol inks and once the ribbons were tied on, the job was done.  Hope you like it! 

Reflections in the moonlight

Hi there!  Welcome to my blog.  Thank you for visiting, and special welcome to my latest followers - I really appreciate your interest. 

Today I'm showing my entry for the Dragon's Dream TIO challenge.  The theme this time is  Night Riverbank, so the recipe  boats, driftwood and insects.

 

I'll be completely honest - this is my third attempt at this tag.  The first one I dropped the inkpad on when I was inking up the butterflies, the second one I put my inky fingers into the middle of the moon and in both cases there was no disguising it so into the bin they went.  Still, three tries for a Welsh(wo)man and fortunately attempt no. 3 went to plan.

 

I began with a white tag from Inkylicious.  (The card is absolutely brilliant for stamping and colouring.)  I stamped the ship onto the tag (about halfway up) in Memento ink, then I stamped it again onto some acetate without re-inking the stamp.  I positioned the acetate (inky side down)  so that the images lined up, then rubbed over it to transfer the image and voila - instant reflection.  I also stamped the ship onto some Post-Its to make a mask, and cut out a couple of circles to mask off the moon and its reflection.  I put a Post-It across the "waterline" to mask off the sky, as I wanted to work on the "water" first of all.

 

I inked up my brayer with Denim Adirondack and when I had a good even coverage, scrunched up a piece of copy paper and brayered over it (if you've ever watched Barbara Grey in action you'll know what I mean.)  Then I brayered over the bottom of the tag once, removed the circle mask, and went over it again. 

 

I uncovered the "waterline" so that only the ship and the moon were masked and brushed (with Colourduster brushed) Denim, Stonewash and Wild Plum over the top half of the tag.  I removed the masks and using Black Soot ink on Cut & Dry nibs, shaded the sails of the ship and brushed on some water to blend the ink out. 

 

Almost done now!  I stamped the "Split Tree" stamp (from Clarity) sideways across the bottom of the tag to create "driftwood".  Just the insects to add.  In the haunted wing of my stash I found one of the first stamps I ever bought - a group of butterflies (from PSX, dated 1999).  Some of them were too big to work for the tag - so I covered those with masking tape while I got Black Soot DI on the stamp. Then I  took the tape away and stamped the butterflies.  A bit of water to blend the ink, some vintage ribbon coloured with Distress Stains (Weathered Wood and Broken China) and it's (finally!) finished.

 

Oh, and while I was trying to photograph the tag, Craft Supervisor Mysti decided that she needed to be photographed - so here she is in all her glory. 

 



Dragon by Moonlight

Hello everyone and thank you for visiting.  This is my contribution to the Dragons-Dream Tag-It-On challenge number 133.  The recipe is -a mythical creature, a clear moon, and a night sky.

 I've had this dragon stamp for some time and I'm so glad to have the opportunity to haul it out and use it!  I stamped it in black archival ink and then masked the dragon and the moon with post-its while I did the sky - I used Inkylicious's Colur Dusters to apply Distress Inks in shades of blue.  I find the Colour Dusters (which look rather like shaving brushes) work very well with masking as you can be quite gentle with them and not disturb your mask too much.  (For the dragon's mask, I also put a little bit of Quickie Glue around the edges and the fine details and let it dry so that it became a repositionable glue - it made things SOOOO much easier!)  While the mask was in place, I also stamped in the branches (stamps by Clarity). 

Once the background was in place, I removed the mask from the moon.  As I was working on a white surface, it was too stark a contrast so I brushed on some Scattered Straw DI, then dabbed on some water with my fingers and then blotted it off with a paper towel and repeated until I liked the effect.

I coloured the dragon with Bruynzeel Superpoint felt-tip pens and used an opaque white pen to highlight some of the details and to add some "stars" to the night sky.  The final touch is a bit of American seam binding coloured with Distress Stains for the tag's tie.  I do hope you like it.

Thank you for stopping by - please come back any time, you'll bevery welcome!