“It’s the Queen’s Birthday today” Abby whispered to me this morning as I was sleeping. “Happy Birthday to her”, I whispered back finding irony in the fact that one of the only bonuses we get from being linked to the royals is the one sleep in per year and here I was losing it to be told it was her birthday. Perhaps next year.
I’ve been extremely busy in the scrap room. The Tarisota site changed over to show sneak peeks of the June kit which means that I’m busy working on my projects.
This is one of them, which is currently posted on the Tarisota website under the influences section. The influences section is full of all sorts of stuff linking back to the current kit, sketches, quotes and every month there is a ‘featured product’ which we all concentrate on, showing tips, tricks and techniques. This month it is Heidi Swapp Gel Blossoms. I created this card to show how the blossoms change colour depending on what patterned paper you put behind them.
I’ve also been busy with the Stampin’ Up! Posts for my blog! I have giveaways all week this week so keep checking back.
So this first post I wanted to show you something cool that was heavily inspired by Tim Holtz. I’ve a new love for inks and paints and distressing. All that brown kinda stuff I left behind with Issue 19 of For Keeps and my first ever magazine article (about scrapbooking and playing cards!). Remember that? You’ve been around a while if you can. I’ll take you through the first steps of paint and ink resist today and tomorrow I’ll finish the tag.
Step 1. Cut a tag from white cardstock.
Step 2. Stamp on your tag using white paint. I’ve used a background stamp from the “Looks Like Spring” Stampin’ Up! Set, but you can use anything. I’ve used butterflies and other backgrounds before. You’ll stamp the image and think I’m crazy because it won’t show at all. Trust me, stamp the image and let it dry.
Step 3. Use some walnut ink or other dye to colour your tag. I had none of the above so I used food colouring. I have NO idea how this will affect the tag in the future but I just went with what I had handy. Funny thing is that I was making brown using red, blue, green and a little yellow and I felt it needed to be a richer brown so I added more red. Except I reached for the strawberry essence instead. Now I have a nice strawberry scented tag. Who knew I was so clever. Again, let it dry. See how the white suddenly pops out – ahh the plan starts to fall together!
Step 4. Once the tag is dry, use ink and a sponge to darken the edges. I’m using Stampin Up! Chocolate Chip ink here. I’ll never forget my art teacher telling me when I was 14 that you should always shade the left and lower edge of an image. (this especially applies to lettering etc when adding a shadow). I followed that theory here and inked those edges and towards the centre a little.
Step 5. I used 2 contrasting inks to create coloured patches within my tags. Can you see the red and blue in there? I kept it from the top right edge, I just kept working around the lower left more and it started to come together. I’ve used SU Buckaroo Blue and Cranberry Crisp.
Step 6. Your tag is ready to start decorating. You can see the brown shading the contrasting red and blue in there. You can also see where I picked it up with wet fingers at the top there. I was washing my foam brush and decided to move the tag into the sun. Not something I planned but I kinda like the result so I’ll pretend that was something I did on purpose. I’ll call that the picking-up-your-dry-tag-with-a-wet-hand-and-creating-a-watercolour-effect-technique.
So there it is! The tag ready for decorating. This post is getting massively long so I’ll leave it and finish it tomorrow with all the embellishing, stamping etc. I do have a giveaway though.
Stampin’ Up! Have provided me with 3 inkpads in their new colours, Purely Pomegranate, River Rock and Blue Bayou. These are huge ink pads, and I’ll be giving all 3 away to a random comment at the end of the week. I’m hoping if I comment enough on my own posts I get to just keep them, is that Ok you think? Leave a comment. I’ll post all winners next Monday.
Check back tomorrow for the rest of the post and another giveaway.
*Talking of giveaways, I’m off over to the Queen & Co blog to give details of a competition over there. It’s open to everyone worldwide so be sure to let everyone know. Just give me a little while to write that post up!
Edited to add: I promised I'd link any Stamp'Up! demonstrators if they wanted to be linked – here are the ones I know of.
Janine Rutherford – Auckland
Delys Cram – Whakatane/East Coast
Jacque Stamphappy –(Check out this technique blog!)
Anne-Marie – Brown's Bay, North Shore
Karen – Waitakere
Laters.
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