AIRs " Fly" Tag Using Imagine Crafts Products

Shipping tags are a wonderful substrate for mixed media art. They are small, the paper is durable and when completed they fit nicely into an art journal or can be used in place of a card. This tag showcases not only texture and color but also techniques such as embossing, masking off areas when stamping, mixing inks, using foils, coloring ribbon with inks, just to name a few. A mixed media tag is a great excuse to break into all those stockpiled, precious products since a tag requires only a small amount of each product.

Skill: All Levels

Time: one hour or less

Instructions:

Step one:  Mask off the head portion of the image to be used, Washi tape can be used for this, ink up the stamp with StazOn Jet Black permanent ink and stamp image onto the shipping tag.

Step two: Stamp swirls with Paris Dusk ink then stamp again in the same area using Rose Bud ink. Dry with a heat tool. Fill a water pen with Fireworks! New Sprout and color dress with the water pen.  Stamp the word “Fly” with Delicata Black Shimmer ink; this can be embossed with Clear Embossing powder melted with a heat tool. Add highlights on the heart, arms and legs of stamped image and dots on the swirls with a Memento Marker pen in Rose Bud color; silver foil can be randomly added onto portions of the tag.

Step three: Spray two pieces of ribbon with Fireworks! Craft spray.  One ribbon will be sprayed with Lilac Posies and the other with New Sprout, additional water can be sprayed onto the ribbons to achieve the desired color. Blot with a paper towel, coil up the ribbons separately and allow them to dry. When dry the ends can be trimmed, they will be richly wrinkled. Tear faces off of the Washi tape and place on tag. Lay lines of Washi tape on a scrap piece of card stock, die cut into a butterfly shape, adhere some silver foil to the butterflies.

Step four: Ink edges of tag, tie the dried colored ribbons on the top, and staple the butterflies into place.

Supply List

Imagine Products:

StazOn ink – Jet Black

Delicata – Black Shimmer

Memento Dew Drop ink – Rose Bud, Paris Dusk

Fireworks! Craft Spray – Lilac Posies, New Sprout

Memento Marker – Rose Bud

Embossing Powder – Clear

Craft Mat

Other supplies:

Manila Shipping Tag

Stamps – Mela by Stampotique, word “Fly” by Stampotique; Joy Clair Hugs & Smiles

Washi Tape – Jane Davenport

Prima – Silver foil and Glue stick; water pen

White ribbon

Sizzix – Butterfly die

Card stock

Heat tool

Big Kick Die Cutting Machine

Paper towels

Check out the Imagine Crafts blog today for this and other design team creations!

Thanks for stopping by ~ hugs ~ Renee

Art Sisters Journal Page

I'm always so amazed by the art sisterhood that exists online.  So many mixed media artists are willing to share their style secrets and their art journals not only online but also in publications just to help and inspire others.  It truly is a tribe of art sisters (and brothers) that encourage each other and cheer on the newcomers equally.  I'm in awe of the work of artists around the world that is produced, edited and shared on a daily basis.  This morning I created this art journal page with them in mind.

Supply list:  Dyan Reaveley background stamp, Stampotique image and phrase.  Tsukineko's Memento Markers in Peanut Brittle & Morocco, Micron 01 pen.

I provided a supply list since I will enter this at the Take It Make It Craft Stamper magazine November Challenge.  You can find the link here.  The Challenge is Anything Goes, it just must include some stamping. Pop over if you get an opportunity, lots of eye candy inspiration to be found there.  Hugs ~ Renee

A Coloring Studio Project using a page from Volume III

When Stampington was looking for coloring book pages for Vol. 3 of the Coloring Studio,  I thought of a page I had done about a year ago that combined Stampotique rubber stamped images with Zentangle designs.  Here is the uncolored page and how I colored it in with Brushos and Memento markers.

While I might not have been thrilled with the end results of the colored in page, I could see opportunities to use it in the future.  I used it to create the colorful and funky top of a small storage box.

Color in a page out of the Coloring Studio coloring book.  Photocopy the colored in page onto heavy cardstock.    Choose a part of the page that measures the same dimensions as the top of the box and cut it to fit the top of the painted box.  Save the scraps to make cards.

Supplies:

Inks:  Permanent inks to distress edges of paper panel chosen to fit the top

Other:

Cardboard box, Chalkboard Paint (black), strong adhesive such as: E6000, Idea-o-logy metal feet

DIRECTIONS:

1.     Choose a card board box, new or recycled and paint it inside and out with black Chalkboard paint.  When dry attach metal feet to the bottom of box with a strong adhesive and begin working on the lid.  Allow paint to dry completely.

2.     Cut a piece of background paper, this one is from a coloring book page that has been colored and photocopied onto heavy cardstock and is a “master board”.

3.     Adhere panel to a piece of card board cardstock, glue with a strong adhesive to the box.  The inside of the box can be further decorated.

So tell me...what do you do with your coloring book pages when you're done?  I'd love to hear about it.
Thanks for stopping by ~ Renee

Use your excess paints on an Art Journal page

I usually keep a large art journal book like Dyan Reaveley's close at hand when I'm using paints on a canvas.  I wipe off my brushes before really cleaning them that way I don't waste my paint and I get some interesting random pages to boot.  It's also a nice way to audition stamps and stencils.  On these pages I added some Stampotique stamps with those cute little dogs!

I hope you're staying busy and I hope you're stealing a little time here and there for art adventures.  Hugs ~  Renee

Green with Envy card

Here is a fun card to check out on the IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko blog today.  It is an all occasion card made using Memento Luxe inks and Stampotique stamps.  Here is a peek and the link to the tutorial.

Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate your visit as well as each and every comment!
Hugs ~ Renee

My First Give-Away! The Groove Tool used to alter playing cards.

You read it correctly, this will be my first give-away here on my blog.

From time to time different companies send me their products to try out.  If I think they are really good quality and something that I will truly use, I blog about it.   A few months back I was asked if I would like to try a new product called "The Groove" tool.  Of course I said yes.  During my move my new toy went with me but I didn't really have time to try it out.  The distributor emailed me last week to see what I thought of it......oops.  I pulled it out and gave it a whirl and what a delightful tool this is, can't wait to share it with you.

The Groove by Art-C is the first tool specifically designed for crafters to ink, sand, stencil and distress a wide variety of surfaces (wood, glass, cardstock, fabric, metal and more). It is portable, light-weight and cordless. Click here to watch The Groove tool.

Visit www.myartc.com/thegroove to learn more.
800-448-6656, info@momenta.com

Here is a sample of some playing cards that I altered using the Groove tool.  It sure made sanding and inking very simple.  I've included some directions if you're interested in altering some playing cards in the near future.

Directions:

Sand the surface of the playing card lightly leaving some of the original design on the card.  If you're using the Groove tool there are two different sanding tips and a low and high speed setting.  After sanding lightly tap off the dust.

Apply heavy gesso to the sanded portion of the card.  Allow to dry completely before proceeding.  You can use a heat gun but be careful not to cause the gesso to bubble unless, of course, you want that distressed look.

Stamp your chosen image on the gesso, sprinkle embossing powder on it and heat emboss the image.  Stamp a second image, cut it out, this will be used as a mask later.  BTW, this is one of Magda Polakow's new stamps manufactured by Stampotique.

Cover the image on the card with the mask to apply the background colors.  I used my new Brusho Crystal Colours for this project.  This was a combination of Prussian Blue and Light Brown.

Next I stamped on the card and added stenciling with some heavy gesso.  When this was all dry, I inked the edges of the card and allowed that to dry.

I liked this project so much I altered quite a few of the playing cards with different stamps, colors and phrases.  Here are a few of my favorites.

I am happy to announce that Momenta sent me a "Groove Tool" to offer as a give-away here on my blog.  If you are a follower of my blog and a resident of the USA just leave a comment here at the end of this LONG post.  I will give everyone until Thursday midnight, October 8th to leave a comment and then on Friday morning I will randomly pick a winner out of a hat.  I will include in the package some of my altered playing cards as inspiration just for fun.

I hope to see lots of comments and maybe some new followers, I love this tool and am anxious to share it with one of you!  I will announce the winner on Friday morning, October 9th.

Hugs ~ Renee

So, what is YOUR favorite product to work with?

All artists have their favorite product to use.  Mine is shared on the Imagine Crafts blog today.  It's no secret that I'm in love with several of the IC/T products but I've been using this one a lot lately.  What's yours?  I'd love to hear about it.

Check out their site if you want to see not only what my favorite product is but also the other AIRs have shared their faves and have posted some wonderful projects to show how to use products you might not be familiar with.
I hope this finds you all well, I'm still unpacking here in South Carolina.  The weatherman said today that Fall was in the air......temperatures are dropping into the low 80's next week.  Can you see the big smile on my face?  Hugs ~ Renee

A Tag with Motion

I made this cute tag that can be used as a gift tag or a book mark.

  Check out the link if you want to see how it is made.

A Cloisonne Effect using Stencils

It is Tuesday so on my calendar it is Artistcellar day.  Today I made a tag and used a stencil to put some extreme texture in the background.  If you want to see the steps it takes to make this project just keep reading.

I started with a Ranger manila tag that measures 3" by 6" and stamped an image from Dyan Reaveley's collection called "Strength".  I stamped a mask on a piece of scratch paper at the same time using the same stamp.

I trimmed out the masking piece and placed it over my image so I can use Creative Medium Green Iridescent paste on the tag without applying it to the image.

This is when the fun begins.  I placed the Sea Foam stencil over the tag and used a palette knife to apply the CM Green paste onto most of the tag.  When I had applied an ample coating of the paste, I lifted the stencil straight up so I wouldn't smear it and discarded the masking piece.  To maximize the texture I poured Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel powder onto the paste and melted it with my heat gun.  Now I have texture similar to cloisonne!

You can see how the light plays off of the iridescence of the paste but now I'm going to add more color.  I colored Metallic Gelatos all over the back ground.

The Metallic Mint and Blueberry Gelatos are easily blended with your finger but I chose to use a baby wipe to activate and blend the colors.  When this was to my satisfaction I inked the edge of the tag with StazOn Gothic Purple ink.

The image was colored in with Copic and Momento pens.  Then I attached some roses out of my stash, added some ribbon and a title for my girl, "L'Artiste".  The roses and top part of the tag were sprayed with Sheer Shimmer Sparkle and Gold to add a touch of bling.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I am having a lot of fun playing with this technique this week as I am pretty much snowed in!  Join me on Friday if you have time, I'll be sharing another stenciling project for Craft Stampers Take It Make It Challenge.  I hope to see you then.  Hugs ~ Renee xx

Masterboard Tag Using Artistcellar Stencils

I can't believe it is Tuesday already!  Time is flying by.  I am still making tags out of the master boards I made several weeks ago.

 Whenever I make master boards with spray inks and I always blot my stencils off on a separate piece of paper getting a reverse image of the first paper.  Kind of a two-for-one deal.  I used the Water Series stencils, more specifically Ripples and Sea foam to create a master board a few weeks ago.  First I sprayed Dylusions Spray Ink in Calypso Teal and then Dirty Martini, blotting off the excess ink along the way.  I dried the ink as I went along with my heat gun.  When the blue and green ink was dry I sprayed Dandelion irRESISTible Texture Spray over the top using Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Silhouette Script stencil.    I ended up with two very different papers.

First master board

Second bonus sheet of blotted ink

I cut both sheets into postcards and tags.  To make the second paper even more different I smeared some gesso across the sheet with the TCW Numerals stencil.  This tag is made from the second sheet of paper and includes an alphabet stamp from Dyan Reaveley's stamps.  The main character and the cat are from Stampotique stamps.  This was made for a Poe challenge so the little quote is torn from a piece of book text from "The Black Cat".  It says "I grew, day by day, more moody."  Uh, yeah, he looks a little moody.... I tried to brighten his mood with the color coordinated bow on the top.  I don't think it's working.

I hope this finds you all well!  I'll see you next Tuesday with more stenciling ideas.  Hugs ~ Renee

White Stamping Craft Stamper Challenge

I can't believe it is December already!  We have a new challenge at the Craft Stamper Take It, Make It site with wonderful prizes to be won.  For December the challenge is to stamp in white on your project.  I decided gift tags are something useful and the white looks great against the kraft colored paper.  You can cut your own tags with a die or buy tags that are pre-cut.  Whatever you have on hand.  

For the first tag I stamped with Stampers Anonymous Butterfly stamp on kraft paper using Adirondack Snow Cap ink and then I used Detail White embossing powder.  After heating it with my heat gun and allowing it to cool, I did some random stamping with an IndigoBlu crackle stamp and StazOn black ink.  I also colored in the butterfly wings a little with Memento markers in yellow and red.  I tore the edges of the paper, glued it on to a black shipping tag and doodled around the edges with a Uniball White gel pen.  Even with a ribbon on the top I think this tag has a very masculine feel to it.  You can write your message on the back using the white pen.  Here are a couple more tags using the same technique.

These are both done on Ranger #8 Kraft tags using the same stamping technique.

I'll have more samples next Friday with the same technique.  I hope this inspires you to try your hand at the CS TIMI Challenge!  Take care, stay warm ~ Hugs, Renee

Tim Holtz/Creative Chemistry 102 online class

This is Day two of The Creative Chemistry 102 on-line class.  I took the first class last year along with I'm sure thousands of other people and I liked it so much I thought I'd follow up with the one this year.  The reason I enjoy it is because I can follow along at my own pace and  if I don't have the exact thing Tim is working with I can easily substitute a like product.  For example he does his techniques on tags but I've chosen to do my project using his techniques in my small Dyan Reaveley journal.

For today this is the project I have completed in my book.  It incorporates an ATC I made with a Stampotique stamp made by France Papillon.  When the pages were completed I sprayed them with GooseBumps to give them a little shine.

  If you are interested in the on-line class it is not too late to sign up and you have unlimited access to the classes.  I hope you're having a great day.  Take care, thanks for stopping by! ~ Renee

Authentique has Thrilling Paper!

I've been having a great time creating cards with Authentique's new paper collection called "Thrilling".  Here is another card I made with combining several of their papers.

This was made with "Mystic" paper as the background.  A little bit of "Superstition" paper with some Goosebumps applied on the tiny pumpkins for shimmer, and a sliver of "Moonlit" for the patterned piece.  The circle and phrase along with the words came from the sheet called "Thrilling" Elements.  I added a few pearls to the half circle design, alternating the colors.  The little girl with the spider is a stamp made by Stampotique.  I stamped her dress twice with StazOn ink in Jet Black and mounted the second one on glue dots to pop it up a bit.  The entire panel is matted on a Kraft colored blank card.

I hope you'll check out this versatile, colorful collection of paper.  The quality of the paper is wonderful, just as you would expect from Authentique.  Thanks for stopping by, I truly appreciate your visit.  Have a great day!  ~ Renee

Stampotique Challenge!

My second challenge for this month as a member of the IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko AIRs group (Artists in Residence) is to develop a project with a theme using Stampotique stamps.  My theme for this project is aptly named “Summertime”.  As most people know I am a HUGE fan of any and all Stampotique stamps so this project was a delight.

I decided to use my IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Brilliance™ Pigment Ink full-size ink pads  for this project.  The summery colors are perfect for a group of all occasion cards to keep on hand for emergency card giving.  Here is the group of Brilliance™ colors that I’ll be working with:   Victorian Violet, Mediterranean Blue, Pearlescent Sky Blue, Gamma Green, Sunflower Yellow, Rocket Red, and Pearlescent Orange.

I stamped the images with IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Memento ™ Dye Ink full-size ink pad in Tuxedo Black and heat set them.  Each card was colored in with Brilliance™ Ink using IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Fantastix™ Multi-Purpose Applicators

I used scrap paper for all of the background papers that the stamped panels are mounted on.  In the end I have a lovely collection of all-occasion cards using warm summer colors.

"Twinkie" with balloons by Stampendous

"Hunk" with balloons by Stampendous

"Smile"

"Girl with Heart Purse" and flowers by Stampland

It has been my pleasure to team up with Tsukineko and Stampotique for this week.  I appreciate the adorable stamp that they gifted me called "Smile".  Always nice to add a new member to my Stampotique family .  If you get a chance to check out their website, they have all types of stamps and challenges there for you to take a look at, not to mention a fantastic design team full of amazing artists!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my blog today.  If you get a chance please leave a comment, I love to hear from you.  Take care and I hope you are having a lovely weekend! ~ Renee

The Challenge of using Brillliance Inks for "summer" creations

Just like everyone else, cards are something I need all year round.  You never know when someone needs a “hug” by way of a card or just to say a quick hello.  My AIRs (Artists in Residence) challenge with Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts today is using Brilliance Inks with summery colors.

If you haven’t used these inks before this is a quick explanation of what they are and what you can use them for:  IMAGINE Crafts/Tsukineko Brilliance Pigment Ink Pads are excellent for most glossy surfaces, including vellum, photos and coated papers. Brilliance Ink is also perfect for stamping on or applying directly to ordinary paper, tissue, wood and other porous surfaces. Most colors are pearlescent.  Brilliance Ink is acid-free, fade-resistant, non-toxic and child-safe, great to know since the colors are so pretty.

Here is a photo of some of the product I received to work with this month.

The IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Brilliance™ Pigment Inks full-size ink pads are absolutely gorgeous and rich.  I had seven colors to choose from:  Victorian Violet, Mediterranean Blue, Pearlescent Sky Blue, Gamma Green, Rocket Red, Sunflower Yellow and Pearlescent Orange.  In some cases I laid two colors onto my craft mat, sprayed the ink with water and blended them together on the mat.  This way I had even more colors to work with.

I used the inks for rubber stamping and for coloring in the images.  To use them like paint I have IMAGINE Crafts®/Tsukineko® Fantastix™ Multi-Purpose Applicators dedicated to each color.  It makes it simple to get into the tiny close areas in the image and lay down the exact color that I want.  I also used a stenciling type paint brush to help create my backgrounds for each card.  The sponges called IMAGINE Crafts® Inkblushers™ are also very helpful in applying the background colors.

I tore paper and laid down lines of ink with the paint brush and the Inkblushers to get an almost marbleized effect.  This is set aside to dry, which with this product doesn’t  long.  I did about three sheets of background paper all different colors this way.

Now that I have background paper I started stamping my images with IMGAINE Crafts/Tsukineko Memento Dye Ink full-size ink pad in Tuxedo Black.  I decided to use all Stampotique images for this project so I had some real characters to choose from and quirky sentiments.  I used the same ink pad with the Fantastix applicators to apply color to them.

"Prom Queen" by Daniel Torrente is my favorite

 

"Prom Queen" by Daniel Torrente and Stampotique phrase by Carol's Collection

Now I ask you, who wouldn't be cheered by these happy little faces and sentiments?  My 87 year old mother loves them.  Go figure.

"Moth Fab" by artist Daniel Torrente

"Girl with Lunchbox" by Daniel Torrente and Stampotique phrase by Carol's Collection

For the background paper on the last one I used a cube stamp by Invoke Arts and applied each of the different colors on a piece of white card stock then put my glossy paper panel with the image and phrase on top of that.  Then the entire panel is glued to a folded white card.  Another great thing about the Brilliance Inks is that they work well with Copics; just heat set the inks before applying the Copics.  Copics provide the perfect red for an embarrassed look.  :-)

I hope you enjoyed my quirky cards today.  These are always my favorite stamps to work with, they just make me smile or laugh the whole time I'm working with them.

Thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate the visit.  If you have time to leave a comment I would love to hear what you think.  Have a great upcoming LONG weekend, I hope it allows you some creative time.  Take care ~ Renee