Tag It Tuesday Linky Party

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

It's July and we're melting here in south Texas.  That's normal.  We might get some relief by October.  I hope everyone in hot climates is able to stay cool and comfy.



Today is our link party for Tag It Tuesday.  This month's theme was patriotic (not country specific).  I'm here to share my tag with you.

I started with a plain #5 shipping tag.  My overall aim with this tag was to create a simple, nearly single layered tag that still had the look of a lot of texture and 3-D layers.  I started out by spraying it with Dylusions Ink Spray in Postbox Red and London Blue, spritzing with water to get it to move around like I wanted to.  Then I dripped water randomly on it, let it set for a while, and then blotted it off to get a speckled look.

I took a scrap piece of Neenah white cardstock and drew the opening bars of The Star Spangled Banner with a Pigma Micron pen (yes, my music friends, I know I notated the first two notes incorrectly).  I sprayed this with Lindy's Stamp Gang spray in Opal Sea Oats to tone down the white and give it some shimmer.  I also inked the edges with Distress Ink.  

 

I pulled out an old Stampin' Up flag stamp and used Archival Ink in Jet Black to stamp it at the bottom of the tag.  I added some white accents with my Uniball Signo white pen.  I accented the heart with some red glitter glue.

I also gave a wonky outline to the whole tag with the white pen, and added some white "stars" on the blue portion.

Topped off with some pretty grosgrain red, white and blue ribbon, I am very pleased with how this tag turned out.  And, in my opinion, we need a lot more patriotism here in these United States.

Here's a little process video of how this tag was made.

Now it's your turn!  I hope you'll take the opportunity to make a patriotic tag (whatever that means to you) and link it up here.  Then please visit the other participants and leave them some blog love!



Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Crafting!

Faith Hope and Love

Spark Some Creativity Saturday @ the Kraaft Shaak

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I am so excited about today's post.  This is my first "official" project as a member of the Kraaft Shaak Design Team.  It really is an honor to serve on this team with such talented fellow artists.

As a member of the Design Team, we were blessed to receive a mixed media kit from the Kraaft Shaak store.  It is truly amazing all the wonderful items this gives us to create with!  Our first task was to work with the alterable item in our kits.  I received three 3x5 canvas panels.  Now, many of you know I am a paper crafter/card maker at heart and I'm still a bit overwhelmed by mixed media and larger projects.  So it tickled me to see these little canvas panels that weren't any bigger than a standard card, which made them less intimidating to me.

I immediately knew I wanted to try my hand at making a triptych with these little canvas panels.  I actually had thought of an idea for something like this a few months earlier, and this presented the perfect opportunity to see if I could bring it to life.  My inspiration for this project is 1 Corinthians 13:13, focusing on the words faith, hope and love.

I started by cutting a freehand heart from some thin chipboard.  I painted this heart with the plum Prima Chalkboard Paint.  What a lovely color and really great coverage with this paint.

Then I set to work on the canvases, adding pieces of the book pages and other items, including metal embellishments and charms, as well as fiberglass drywall tape.  Everything was attached with matte gel medium and then coated lightly with gesso.  I wiped away a bit of the gesso from the papers with a baby wipe because I still wanted their patterns to show through, but be muted.  

Two of the panels were given a leaf stencil treatment with light modeling paste, and the third I used the Prima Doily Stencil.  I also decided to add some of the clear glass beads to a couple of the corners as well.  This was also attached with matte gel medium.

Once the leaf detail was dry, I placed the stencil back over it and painted it with gelatos.  To do this, I simply scribbled my gelatos on a ceramic tile and used a brush with water to liquefy them.  Easy peasy!

I used a mixture of Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays, Dylusions Ink Sprays and Prima Color Bloom Sprays to get color on the canvases.

I also added to the glass bead corners a mixture of Prima Art Sugar in pink that was mixed with the soft gloss gel.  Instant bling!!

I originally stamped my focus words, but was not happy with them.  I decided to try my luck at hand lettering them instead, and was pleased with the result.  I sprayed the word pieces lightly so they wouldn't be such a stark white.  Additionally, I added a drop shadow to each word panel with my Pitt Artist Big Brush Pen.

To connect the canvases and make them stand as a single unit, I hot glued three strips of fairly wide ribbon completely across the back of the three canvases.  I left about 1/4" or so in between the canvas panels.  I then backed the pieces with some coordinating designer scrapbook paper to give it a clean, finished look.

I managed to film almost the entire process on this project.  I've condensed it down and sped it up for your viewing pleasure!  Enjoy!

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Crafting!

Tag It Tuesday Theme for July

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

It's time to announce our altered tag theme for July, and it should come as no great surprise that the theme is PATRIOTIC!  While it is the season of USA patriotism during July, the theme for this month is not Country specific nor does it have to be representative of a flag.  In fact, if you want to put a state spin on it, I'm fine with that!  Think of the symbols that come to mind and put your personal spin on those.

Don't forget, you can use any size tag, any style, and whatever materials/mediums you have.  Just have fun, and be sure to come back on July 21 when the link party is posted and share your creation!

Here's a little Texas style inspiration for you!

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Crafting!