Summer Holiday Tag

The current challenge over on Tag Tuesday is Summer Holidays. I had the perfect tag using a piece of gelli plate clean up paper which made a great background.

Travel Tag

The current challenge over on Tag Tuesday is travel.  I am in the midst of report writing and looking forward to the summer holidays so I found a tag to join in with.

A Paris Scene Tag

The current challenge over on Tag Tuesday is Travel and a couple of tags had a Paris theme so I decided to join in with this one.

I had a piece of copy paper that I had used to clean up my ink mat.  I decided to use part of it as a background for a tag and see what I could make of it. 

I chose an interesting section of the clean up sheet (copy paper) and added it to a #8 manilla tag, sealing with matt medium, drying and trimming. 

Looking through my stamps, I came across the Sketchy Paris Fashion set (Clarity Crafts) and decided to make a scene with those.  I started by stamping the Eiffel Tower stamp in Watering Can Archival ink.  I made the mistake of forgetting to remove the blue layer of ink which comes on the stamp as a quality control measure to check that the image is complete.  It came out rather more blue than grey; I didn't make the same mistake again lol.

I then added the sketchy lady from the same set in the same ink.

Finally, I decided to give the lady a four legged friend, using one of the stamps from the Wee Fashion accessory set (umbrella) this time in Jet Black Archival ink.  I also used one of the masks which come with the stamp set to mask off the image of the woman.

I added a horizon using Hickory Smoke Archival ink and a sponge and also sponged on some Dandelion Archival ink at the bottom of the tag.  Then I removed the mask.

The figure was coloured in using my Faber-Castell Big Brush markers in shades of yellow and warm grey.  I also used the same pens to add dots of interest to areas of the background, blended out with the tip of a cotton bud (Q Tip).  The outer mask of the smallest moon (Moon masks) was used to help add a moon behind the Eiffel Tower; then a Black Pitt Artist pen was used to draw in a lead for the dog.

A sentiment from the Small Talk Occasions sticker book by Tim Holtz was cut into three and added to the tag to complete the piece.

Summer Tag

 The latest challenge over on Tag Tuesday is anything goes.  I had been hoarding a piece of gelli plate clean up paper which made the perfect background for this tag.

I added the clean up sheet to a #8 manilla tag (to view original project see HERE).  It was sealed with matte medium, dried and trimmed.

On a separate sheet of card, I stamped the sailing boat stamp from the Boating Rounds set from Clarity Crafts in Majestic Blue Versafine ink.  It was heat embossed with clear EP, then coloured in using my Royal Talens Ecoline pens.

Once fussy cut, the image was added to the tag.  I sealed the water colouring using Distress Glaze then used the Cobalt Green big brush marker (Faber-Castell) to add shading.

Before shading

After shading.

The NDC Summer stamp (#117) from Clarity was added directly onto the tag (same method as the previous stamping) and coloured in using the same big brush marker.

One of the Tim Holtz Small Talk stickers completed the piece.

Blue and Green echo Scene Tag

The latest prompt over on Tag Tuesday is Blue and Green and I thought this tag fitted it really well.

I decided to work with a reflection technique to produce a visual representation of the word Echo, then create a scene around it.  I marked a line in pencil across a #8 manilla tag, then stamped the word Echo onto the small rectangular gel petite plate using Jet Black Archival ink.  The mounted gel plate was then used to add the reflection of the word below the pencil line.  The word Echo (Clarity Crafts Word Chain Alphabet) was then inked up again and stamped directly onto the tag above the pencil line to match up with the reflected version.

I marked a pencil dot at 5cm and 5.5cm both above and below the central pencil line and used the same technique with the teeny weeny moon stamp from the Woodland Miniatures set. to add the moon clouds.

Next came the really fun part; creating the scene.  I masked off the centre of the moon and used some the hills and mountains masks masks.  I also used tape to mask off below the central pencil line.  Artistry inks in Dry Weed and Midnight Blue, together with two Claritystamp stencil brushes, were used to add the scenery (working from bottom to top).

The tape was moved above the pencil line and the same process used (with the hill masks reversed) to create the scene below the water line.  Additional Midnight Blue ink was used over the hill areas to give the impression of water.

To reinforce the impression of water, some cling wrap was spritzed with water and wrapped around the bottom of the tag, causing the ink to run.  Once removed, the tag was dried and the hills and sky in the reflection were lightly gone over with the stencil brushes and additional ink.

Finally, the same phrase 'it's all perspective' (Tim Holtz idea-ology Small Talk sticker book) was used in both the black on white and the white on black versions and stuck at the same distance above and below the reflection line.

Coordinating Scraps to Create a Tag

I finally managed to find time to join in with the June Challenge over on Tag It Tuesday.  Better last minute than never lol.  The four prompts this month were 1) Add mountains or trees; 2) Add dictionary text; 3) Purple and 4) Use a random scrap from your desk.  I used all four for a change.

Stamping Within a Stencil

I decided to use a different substrate than normal for this sample.  I had a chipboard door hanger blank in my stash which worked perfectly with both the stamps and the stencil that I was working with.

There Is Beauty in Simplicity: Mixed Media

The second piece that I created using one of the new Geo stencils from Claritystamp.  Lou will be back on Hochanda with lots of demos at 9am, 1pm and 5pm today.

Die Cutting Vinyl: An Acrylic Background

This was the second sample that I made using the new acrylic shapes from Claritystamp. I have had some sheets of vinyl suitable for making peel offs for a while and decided to see how a piece would work with dies rather than an electronic cutting machine, such as a Cricut or Brother Scan N Cut.

Creating Faux Lace using a Gel Plate on a Tag

I thought that I would take part in the latest challenge over on Tag It Tuesday.  As I had my large Gel Press plate out anyway and one of the prompts was to use lace, I decided to create a faux lace effect by making a gel print.  The four prompts for April are: 1) Tag, 2) Book Paper, 3) Pearls, 4) Lace.

Dream Fairy Bookmark

A quick and belated post today from my holidays.  I thought this dream fairy bookmark would be appropriate having visited Bran Castle in Transylvania yesterday!  I use tags like this as bookmarks.

Heat Embossing and Collage over Paper Towel Background

After the success of my last quick art journal page, I decided to have another play with my scraps and create another double page spread in my Moleskine journal.  It is the first journal that I bought and the last one that I actually started using, due to my nervousness and the fact it was expensive in comparison to all the rest.  These days I don't think about that, I just grab the nearest suitable journal and use it.  All stamps and stencils used are from Claritystamp.

Landscape Journal Page in the Style of Osnat Tzadok

As the first December prompt has been posted over on Nina Ribena's Art Journal Prompts and More,  I thought that it was about time that I finished the last prompt for October in my Journal.  I am now only three weeks behind, as I have completed the first November prompt.  The general prompt for October was 'In the Style of' and the final prompt was Landscapes/Seascapes.  Osnat Tzadok was one of the artists listed and I really like her repetitive, colourful style and the way she plays with reflections.  I decided to use a gel plate to create the reflections on my page.

Fantasy Journal Page at the WOYWW Crop

As I was attending the annual WOYWW crop I decided to take the  minimum of crafting to do.  So much time is spent catching up, eating cake, catching up, cake, coffee ... you get the idea, that there is little actual time spent on crafting.  I therefore only took some stamps, my Strathmore Visual Journal water brushes and colouring materials: Luminarte Twinkling H2Os and my Ecoline pens from Royal Talens.  Even so, I didn't finish the page while I was there.

ATCoin on a Tag

There are four prompts each month on Tag It Tuesday.  At least two of them have to be used when creating a tag for the challenge.  This month's prompts were 1: Dots, 2: Cheese Cloth, 3: Sprays/mists, 4: Beads or bead gel.  As you will see, I used three of them.

Rise & Shine: Journal Tag

Here's another post that I prepared in advance to share while I'm in Berlin on a school trip.  I figured that lack of sleep might well be starting to kick in by this point of the week and decided to motivate myself to keep going!

What a Great Afternoon: Create It Hanger 42.

I got home from work on Friday to find that I had won a pair of tickets to the Create It event the following day at Hanger 42 in Lutterworth.  As yesterday was also my wedding anniversary, I took my husband of 28 years with me.  I don't think it would have been his first choice of ways to spend the afternoon, but he made the 150 mile round trip with me and we had a great time, thanks to the generosity of Kay and Alfie of IndigoBlu.  I got up early and made a small token of my appreciation to take with us.

Blending Experiment

I wanted to try out my new Pergamano blending pen and nibs to see how they would work with my Faber-Castell Big Brush Markers.  They are fabulous for fine detail and I discovered an unexpected bonus.

Sail Away on a Summer's Day: Journal Tag

This tag was made for the current challenge on the That's Crafty Challenge Blog: A Summer's Day.  I had a piece of gelli plate clean up paper which made the perfect background.

An Unexpected Background

I made this tag for the June prompt over on Country View Challenges: The Written Word (Add text in some form).  As you will see the background was an unexpected bonus from another project.