A Strong Woman ...

"A strong woman looks a challenge dead in the eye and gives it a wink." ~Gina Carey

A quick tag I did for the July More Than Words Mini Challenge using my gel plate, some stencils, thread, a Dina Wakley stamp, and my printer for the quote!

Process Video:

Font: BP Typewrite Damaged

Products used on finished tag:

• Gel Press Gel Plate
• Ranger
• Dina Wakley
• Acrylic Paint
• Peacock
• Stamp + Stencil
• Essential Silhouettes
• Tim Holtz
• Distress Ink
• Picked Raspberry
• Mini Blending Tool
• Archival Ink
• Jet Black
• Stampers Anonymous
• Tim Holtz
• Harlequin
• Splotches
• Tracks
• We R Memory Keepers
• Crop A Dile
• Craft Knife
• Tonic
• Tim Holtz
• Stamp Platform
• Americana
• Bright-Orange
• Master's Touch
• Gold
• Daler Rowney
• Neon Pink
• Neon Green
• The Paper Studio
• Rick Rack Scrap Pack
• Other
• Black Thread
• Pink Thread

Paints found on other gel press pages

• Ranger
• Dina Wakley
• Eggplant
• AC
• Vicki Boutin
• Sugared Strawberry
• Juicy Pear
• Daler Rowney
• Neon Orange
• Americana
• Gloss Enamels
• Black
• DecoArt
• Lavender

Stencil used on other gel press pages

• Homemade
• Ranger
• Dina Wakley
• Stamp + Stencil
• Essential Silhouettes

You can, let go (a mixed media tag)

You can, let go

Process Video:

ReneaBouqeut Beautiful Board filled with ReneaBouquet micro glass beads.

Beautiful handmade roses by ReneaBouquets!

JudiKins Diamond Glaze works great for this because is thin and dries fast!

I've had these unbranded glass beads for a while, and they have almost made it to a few previous projects, but today I finally got to use them and not just put them back away! (They are a little bigger than the micro beads from ReneaBouquets)

Products:

• ReneaBouquets
• Glass Microbeads
• Champagne
• Gold
• Teal
• Purple
• Beautiful Board
• Small Lacy The Moon Fairy (gifted to me by Mary Jane in the May RB swap!)
• Beautiful Bits
• Star
• Mulberry Paper Roses
• Mini Chocolate Covered Caramel
• Creative Embellishments
• Flourish 15
• Prima
• Finnabair
• Opal Magic Acrylic Paint
• Rose-Gold
• Wax Cire Cera
• Electric Violet
• Sentiments Stickers
• Julie Nutting
• Tag Pad
• Prima Flowers
• Prima Handmade
• Candy Gems Melon (Item #549381)
• Item #634483
• Watercolors
• Tropical
• Ranger
• Tim Holtz
• Distress Oxide
• Peacock Feathers
• Distress Spray Stain
• Wilted Violet
• Distress Paint
• Wilted Violet
• Mini Blending Tool
• Perfect Pearls
• Blue Patina
• Heirloom Gold
• Tonic
• Tim Holtz 
• Paper Distresser
• Jacquard
• Lumiere
• Halo Violet Gold
• PearlEx
• Reflex Violet
• Misty Lavender
• DMC Embroidery Floss
• Precious Metal Effects
• E3821
• JudiKins
• Diamond Glaze
• Liquitex
• Matte Super Heavy Gel
• Unknown/Unbranded
• Clear Glass Beads
• "Stone Path" Die
• Gold Sewing Machine Thread

Spring Fling Tag Swap at Reneabouquets!

Over on Facebook, Reneabouquets hosted a "Spring Fling" tag swap for May! This is the tag I came up with for my partner! (Well, I added to what I had been thinking of, because I had daffodils on the brain as soon as I signed up! LOL)

The daffodils are cut from a thin Mulberry Paper and after I put them together I coated them in (watered down) Vicki Boutin Iridescent Glaze and added the stamen. And actually, I didn't have the right shade of yellow for them, so after cutting the trumputs out I soaked them in Shimmerz: Creameez "Daffodil" (that was just a lucky coincidence the color I was looking for was also appropriately named!) 

Product List:

• Reneabouquet Products: 
• "Silver Pink" Glitter Glass 
• Beautiful Board Small Quilling Flourish 
• Tiny Treasures Sweet Pea Lavender Premium Paper Glitter Glass Butterflies 
• Mini Pink Lemonade Mulberry Roses & Leaves Set 
• The gardenias were pulled from different rose sets I had from Reneabouquets 
• The paper is from Blue Fern Studios: Spring Parade, and you can purchase this from Reneabouquet! 
• Silhouette Cameo 3
• PixScan Cutting Mat
• AutoBlade
• The lattice cut on the background and the daffodils are both files from the Silhouette store (Design IDs #40858 and #112756)
• Ranger 
• Multi Medium - Matte
• Glossy Accents
• Scotch ATG
• Prima - Finnabair - Art Alchamey
• Sparks Acrylic Pain - Fairy Wings
• Opal Magic Wax - Royal Robes
• Art Basics - 3D Gloss Gel
• Vicki Boutin Iridescent Glaze
• Shimmerz: Creameez "Daffodil"
• Tim Holtz Distress Oxide "Shaded Lilac"
• JudiKins Diamond Glaze

Christmas Tag!

The tag I made for the "Glorious Holiday Tag Swap!" hosted by Donna (bonprof) over at scrapbook.com!

I sprayed the canvas, texture pasted the canvas, sprayed it some more, and added some glitter paste in select spots! (Good news, I finally got a webcam, someday I hope to make videos...it is just so much easier than typing it all out! I assume anyhow, at least I'll be able to say "Here, watch this!" LOL)

I wrapped the gold wire around a tape roll (packing tape size) to make the wreath base, then just started sticking the pine needle die cuts around it. The ornaments are from ReneaBouquets (link in product list), as is the glitter I used to "fill in" some of the areas of them. I embossed them with Red Geranium Embossing Powder (Ranger) and added a light coat of Rose Gold Metallique Wax (Prima). I did the same to the Merry Christmas.

Yes, it lights up!

Products Used:

• ReneaBouquets
• Beautiful Board Vintage Christmas Ornaments
• Gold "Christmas" Glitter Glass
• BoBunny
• Gold Glitter Paste
• Ranger
• Gold Embossing Powder
• Texture Paste
• Big Emboss It
• Wendi Vecchi
• Red Geranium Embossing Powder
• Tim Holtz
• Candied Apple Distress Spray Stain
• Stampers Anonymous
• Tim Holtz
• Flourish Stencil
• Carta Bella
• Lattice Stencil
• Advantas
• Idea-ology Tim Holtz
• Bouquet
• Simon Says Stamp
• Pine Needle Trio Die
• Core'dinations
• Tim Holtz Kraft Core Nostalgic Collection
• Core'dinations
• Vintage Stack
• Prima
• White Crackle Texture Paste
• 3D Gloss Gel
• Finnabair
• Rose Gold Metallique Wax
• Heidi Swapp Color Shine
• Bronze
• Fabri-Tac
• JudiKins Diamond Glaze
• Unknown/Unbranded
• Laminated Canvas
• Merry Christmas Die
• Berries
• Gold Wire
• The lights are a little necklace I came across at the 99¢ store!
• The poinsettias are actually from an earring & brooch set from Avon I believe.

Midnight Fae!

Midnight Fae! Created for the ReneaBouquet's Fall In Love With Fairies October Swap!

Over on the ReneaBouquet Facebook page, DT Member, Donna, posted the ReneaBouquet's Fall In Love With Fairies October Swap! This is the tag I did for that swap to send to my swap partner!

I had a lot of frustrated fun putting this together! There were quite a few things that were a learning experiance! Sometimes I think my swap partners end up becoming guinea pigs for my experiments!

This tag is a #12 tag, but I cut it out of some corrugated cardboard from an old box. I like to reuse/recycle/repurpose when I can, so all those products I order get their boxes saved to be turned into craft projects or to be used to ship swap items out!

My first order of busines was to coat the tag with some black acrylic paint so the Prima Opal Magic Waxes would show the best, plus, I was making a "nighttime" themed tag!

A close up of bottome corner that has the Beautiful Board Fairy Kisses, Plum Glass Microbeads, and Silver Glass Microbeads, all found at ReneaBouquet. The fairy was coated in Wilted Violet & Seedless Preserves Distress Oxides, the "mulberry type" roses were sprayed with a couple of different sprays, Heidi Swapp's "Tinsel" Color Shine, & some Tim Holtz "Hickory Smoke" watered down and mixed with some "Pewter" Perfect Pearls!

A closer look at the Beautiful Board Moon Fairy from ReneaBouqet with more Silver Glass Microbeads to accent! The moon was coated in a lot of different products until I got what I wanted! Some of those porducts no longer show up, but I guess they helped add to the texture. However, the final coat was Prima's "Old Silver" Metallique Wax.

In both of the above photos, and the three below, you can see where I added some Black Shard Glitter Glass from ReneaBouquet! The texture paste used with Tim Holtz's Honeycomb stencil is "Foiled Again," by Shimmerz. (At the time of this writing, the Shimmerz website was not loading for me, sorry I couldn't add links directly to the products.)

 Product List:

• ReneaBouquet:
• Both "Beautiful Board (BB)" Fairies (Fairy Kisses, Moon Fairy)
• Black Shard Glitter Glass
• Plum & Silver Glass Microbeads
• Shimmerz Paints
• Paint: Coal
• Dazzlerz: Foiled Again
• Tim Holtz 
• Distress Oxides: Wilted Violet & Seedless Preserves
• Distress Spray Stain: Hickory Smoke
• Honeycomb Stencil
• Ranger
• Texture Paste
• Black Archival Ink
• Perfect Pearls: Pewter
• Mini Mister 
• Glossy Accents
• Wendi Vecci
• Watering Can Embossing Powder
• Prima
• 3D Gloss Gel
• Wood Embellishments: "Leaves & Mushrooms"
• Decadent Pies Watercolor Set
• Opal Magic Wax: Royal Robes & Turquoise Satin
• Metallique Wax: Old Silver & Brushed Iron
• Carta Bella "Lattice" Stencil
• Echo Park "Mini Leaves" Stencil
• Heidi Swapp Color Shine: Tinsel
• Silver wire
• Black Acrylic Paint
• "Mulberry" roses
• We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile
• WOW Embossing Powder: Cloud 9
• Even though they don't exactly stand out, the "flat" flowers are composed of:
• Penny Black: tiger-lilly
• Designs By Ryn - "Flowers"
• Tim Holtz "Flower Garden"

Autumn Tag!

Autumn Tag!

Over at scrapbook.com Donna hosted a tag swap for Autumn and/or Halloween themed tags! For this swap I was partnered with Kathy and we did both themes! This is my Autumn tag, and here is the link to my Halloween tag! I'll also be entering this into the Simon Says Stamp, "Anything Goes," Wednesday Challenge!

This tag was mostly a matter of choosing where to place all of the flowers, leaves, and pumpkins! But for the background, I used the Echo Park 6x6 Woodgrain stencil with Ranger Texture Paste and randomly sprinkled Ranger's Gold, Enchanted Gold, and Wendi Vecchi's Tree Branch embossing powders! (I have no idea the origin of the paper I used!) After the texture paste was dry I used my heat gun on the powders! (If you do it while the paste is wet it will bubble, or so Tim Holtz warned, and I take what Tim says VERY seriously!! 😁)

After the background was created I just started arranging things and gluing them in place than added a bit of 'vintage' lace at the bottom and the last bit of my (unknown) velvet ribbon at the top!

Close ups of the cluster!

Products Used:

• The leaves, the netting looking stuff, and the pumpkins I found in my local 99¢ store!
• Echo Park 6 x 6 stencil: Woodgrain
• Little Birdie: Vintage Elements - Symphony Flower Cherry; Vellum Elements - Poinsettia - Lemon; Vellum Boutique Flowers - Sunset Orange
• Petaloo: Darjelling Collection: Wild Blossoms x 9 Med - Paprika
• Ranger: Glossy Accents; Texture Paste; Embossing Powers - Gold, Enchanted Gold, & Wendi Vecchi Tree Branch
• Fancy Pants Resin Flowers: Autumn Hues & Vintage Hues
• Unknown velvet ribbon & unknown laces!
• Unknown origin for the paper used on the background!

Halloween Tag!

The photo behind the claw marks is holographic! There is a close-up further down the post.

Over at scrapbook.com Donna (bonprof) hosted a September tag swap! There were two categories, Autumn and Halloween. You didn't have to do both, but I did, and this is my Halloween tag that was sent down to Kathy in Australia! (Here's where you can see the Autumn tag!)

And, thanks to perfect timing, I'll be entering this tag in the Simon Says Stamp, "A Walk On The Darkside," Monday Challenge, and the Simon Says Stamp, "Anything Goes," Wednesday Challenge!

I actually did a lot of mixed media work on the background when I started because I wasn't entirely sure what direction I'd be going. I knew I wanted to use a photo behind the claw marks, but I didn't know what kind of photo or how big ... then I just happened to turn around in the Halloween isle when I saw the package of holographic "photographs" hanging up! Now, you can only really see the Prima White Crackle Paste coated in ink along the edges!

The lace along the edge also didn't start out as an orangish-rust color, it was white, but with some help from Tim Holtz's Distress Spray Stains in Carved Pumpkin and Rusty Hinge, I made the lace match my theme!

After all that it was just placing and gluing the items in place! Although I did use some black craft foam to pop up the purple paper above the photo after using the Claw Thinlits to cut matching marks!

The full tag at the top of the post shows the color best. The colors here are a little distorted because of the lighting change needed for a close-up of the holographic images!

Products Used:

• The holographic photo, wired burlap ribbon, black & gold rose, "twigs," purple lace, and purple spider I found in the Halloween and/or Autumn decor sections of my local 99¢ store!
• The orange lace on the edge I received in a lot of 'vintage' lace off eBay.
• 'Mulberry' flowers (orange roses)
• Joelle's Halloween Fabric Flowers: the black burlap flowers.
• Tim Holtz: Thinlits - Claw Marks, Distress Spray Stains - Hickory Smoke, Carved Pumpkin, and Rusty Hinge, Distress Oxide - Black Soot
• Sizzix Big Shot Plus
• Heidi Swapp Color Shine: Bronze
• Prima Texture Paste: White Crackle
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Echo Park Arsenic and Lace patterened paper
• The small, black spider was actually a cheap, orange, plastic ring used as party favors! I just added a lot of Glossy Accents and Martha Stewart Onyx glitter!

Tiger Lilly!

Tiger Lilly

Sometimes I just experiment, I get "I wonder..." and "What if..." thoughts in my head and I have to try them out! Sometimes I experiment because I have a shiny new product to try out! In the case of this tag, it was a little of both!

I had cut out tags the other day using my Cameo, and I decided I wanted to coat them in dark colors. One was done with black acrylic paint, and the other (the top one) was done with some Tattered Angels - Plain Jane Collection - Stained Glass - Semi Matte Glaze - Green. I've had the bottle for about three years now, I forgot I owned it!

Well, I live in a dry climate, and I basically had some goo in a bottle at this point, but I decided to see if I could rehydrate enough to use one last time. After adding some water & rubbing alcohol I managed to get some lumpy green liquid in a bottle! LOL! It was just enough to coat a tag.

At this point I wasn't sure what to do with my newly coated tags, so I went browsing through my stamps and when I came across my Penny Black Tiger Lilly I decided to practice using my Distress Oxides on a dark background!

Love the "Water Droplets" created by Ryn at Designs by Ryn!

When I get to experimenting I have a tendency to do things rather backwards. I stamped and colored my Tiger Lilly, then decided I needed to add more to the tag! I used some scrap plastic to make a quick mask for the Tiger Lilly so I could add some plaid to the background with more Distress Oxides and Tim Holtz's "Stripes" ATC stamp for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge! Then I decided to use my "Water Droplets" stamp by Ryn at Designs by Ryn to see how those droplets would look on a dark background as well! I like it personally, and I'll be sharing/entering this tag in Ryn's monthly challenge!

You can really see those water droplets here across the flower!

I still wanted more on the tag, I thought there was too much empty space! I decided to at some stenciling!! Now, because Distress Oxides are a pigment and dye ink hybrid, the Snowflake Paste by Prima activated the dye ink and absorbed it! (I planned on this happening!!) Now I had some shiny, greenish honeycomb on my tag! And to keep the paste off my water droplets? Artist's tape. As the final touch I added the little bee and embossed it in Ranger's Gold Embossing Powder!

That Snowflake Paste absorbed some of the colors from the Distress Oxides underneath!

Product List:

• "Water Droplets" stamp created by Ryn at Designs by Ryn!
• Tattered Angels - Plain Jane Collection - Stained Glass - Semi Matte Glaze - 1.35 Ounce Bottle - Green
• Silhouette Cameo
• Prima Snowflake Paste
• Ranger Water Brush (nib), White Embossing Powder, Gold Embossing Powder, and Jet Black Archival Ink.
• Tim Holtz "Stripes" ATC Stamp, Honeycomb Stencil, Paper Distresser, Distress Embossing Ink, Distress Ink - Picket Fence, and Distress Oxides - Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint, Iced Spruce, Cracked Pistachio, and Broken China.
• A PrismaColor White Colored Pencil
• Unknown on that little bee stamp
• Penny Black Tiger Lilly Stamp
• I used one of the black eyelets that came with my Pink Crop-A-Dile & Case!!

imagine {tag}

imagine tag!

Ok, I have this 'thing' where I have decided to go back to 2007 and complete all of Tim Holtz's "12 Tags of ..." series'. I started doing the "12 Tags of 2015" with January 2015 and finish all of the tags for 2015 & 2016! I was heart-broken when it was announced that there would not be a 12 Tags of 2017! I mean really, after 10 years of tags?!?! Ok, I get it, 10. Years. Of. Tags! At the rate I'm going it may be 2027 before I am "caught-up"! Anyhow, this is my tag inspired by #5 of "12 Tags of 2007". Basically, it was "use alcohol ink," somehow I turned it into "use alcohol ink on Yupo, and to keep things interesting toss in some Distress Oxides & pastes!" And wait, and wait, and wait for everything to dry (can't heat Yupo, it makes it expand ... or so I read, didn't really want to test it!). Then proced to NEVER touch the surface of the tag, because it's Yupo, and everything "floats" on the surface. (Maybe I'll add some sealer today...)

Black Soot Distress Oxide for "imagine," Shimmerz Paste-eez Hold the Mustard & Raspberry Sherbet with Tim Holtz's "Harlequin" stencil.

The clouds are stamps from Simon Says Stamp's "Sea You Soon" set.

My Garden Friends butterfly!

 Product List:

• Legion Paper Yupo
• Ranger Glossy Accents, Blending Tool, Replacement Felt, Alcohol Blending Solution, and Alcohol Inks: Cranberry, Eggplant, Silver, Gold, and Pearl.
• Tim Holtz Distress Oxide: Cracked Pistachio, Worn Lipstick, Seedless Preserves, and Black Soot. 
• Tim Holtz "Harlequin" Stencil
• Simon Says Stamp "Sea You Soon" set
• Heidi Swapp "imagine" stamp
• Shimmerz Paste-eez: Hold the Mustard & Raspberry Sherbet
• Some homemade alcohol inks: black & blue-ish ones
• My Garden Friends Butterfly
• Bo Bunny Chunky Charms: Clear Arrows & Circles

be your own sunshine

I saw a piece of paper (I'll show that later) that inspired the coloring of this tag. Plus, Simon Says Scrap's current Wednesday challenge is "Summer Sunshine." Add to the mix a quote I saw that said, "Sometimes you have to be your own sunshine," and a tag was born.

The flowers didn't come out exactly how I had hoped, but sometimes that just happens!

I started out with a piece of cardboard cut to a size 12 tag (10 1/2" x 5 1/4 I think...I have a template so I don't always have to measure or remember!) and I coated it thickly with white acrylic paint.

My tag base

After that I started gathering supplies I thought I might use and picked out colors I thought could be used to try and recreate the color and design of this piece of Echo Park paper! (I received mine in the July Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp, now to make a card with it!)

The paper that inspired it all!

Smooshing paint into all the crevices!

The honeycomb and riveted metal are from using Amazing Casting Resin in Tim Holtz's embossing folders (Watch a technique video here!). The flourish's are from a flourish circle I had cut out a few years ago with my Cameo. It was multiple layers of cardstock that didn't get glued together quite right, and was painted a light pink. I finally decided it was time to either use it or toss it! And, all of the gears on this project came from the Silhouette store.

Lots of ink & paint & Metallique Wax & Perfect Pearls on here!

After I painted everything, added some "Old Silver" Prima Metallique Wax randomly then I went back over with matching/coordinating Distress Oxides. After all that was dried I used a Crafter's Workshop 12 x 12 Template ("Sunburst") for the rays, and a circle stencil I made a while back for the...umm, circles.

All the shine on the gears for the "sun" is from Perfect Pearls "Perfect Pearl." The sun rays are Delicata "White Shimmer" Pigment Ink.

More Perfect Pearls for the circles!

Lots of "mulberry" type flowers sprayed with a variety of colors! For the oranges I mixed "Carved Pumpkin" Distress Stain with some Perfect Pearls "Perfect Pearl" and "Pewter." The different shades of yellows and oranges is due to the original colors of the flowers. The pink flowers are from Shimmerz Coloringz "Pink Stilettos," and the mint is from Heidi Swapp's Color Shine "Sweet Mint."

Product List:

• Silhouette Cameo
• Amazing Cast Resin
• Pink Paislee: Take Me Away Collection: Thickers with Foil Accents: Phrases: "Dream"
• Hip Kit Club Exclusive Alpha (May 2017 Main Kit)
• Shimmerz: AcriTonez - Pinkadelic; Coloringz - Pink Stilettos
• Perfect Pearls: Perfect Pearl & Pewter
• Tsukineko Delicata: White Shimmer
• White acrylic paint
• Heidi Swapp Color Shine: Sweet Mint
• Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Carved Pumpkin & Cracked Pistachio; Distress Spray Stain - Carved Pumpkin; Distress Oxide - Wild Honey, Cracked Pistachio, & Picked Raspberry; Embossing Folders - Riveted Metal & Honeycomb
• Ranger Mini Mister
• Prima Art Alchemy Metallique Wax: Old Silver
• "Mulberry" type flowers

Christmas Gift Tags Set #2

Set #2 of my Christmas Gift Tags

My second set of Christmas Gift Tags, which, like the first set, was set in motion by AZAmy's & Sizzix's "Christmas In July Challenge" over at scrapbook.com. Like the first set, the tags, and most of the patterened paper came from the Simon Says Stamp Limited Edition 2016 Holiday Card kit.

The stamp set used, "Swell Christmas," is from Simon Says Stamp, and came in the Limited Edition 2016 Holiday Card Kit. The gold embossing powder is also from Simon Says Stamp, and I think it also came in the kit.

I just started laying bits and pieces on for this tag! The ornament stamps are also in the "Swell Christmas" set.

I like the idea of making a vintage-ish tag, and decided to use my trusty Tim Holtz tree from my "Happy Everything Blueprints" set! To color in the tree, I used a water brush and Distress Oxides, then to top it off I used the "Christmas Day" stamp from American Crafts! (To splatter the background I used a paint brush and the Distress Oxides)

Once again, I used stamps from the "Swell Christmas" set! Simon Says Stamp gold embossing powder, some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Bronze, some Distress Oxides, and some Prima Watercolors!

Products Used:

• Simon Says Stamp "Swell Christmas" Stamp Set, gold embossing powder, tags, papers from "Limited Edition 2016 Holiday Card Kit,
• Tim Holtz "Blueprint Tree" from Happy Everything Blueprints Set & Tiny Attacher
• American Crafts "Christmas Day" Stamp
• Simple Stories "December Documented" 6 x 6 paper pad.
• Ranger Water Brush & Black Archival Ink
• Distress Marker: Candied Apple
• Distress Oxides: Fossilized Amber, Iced Spruce, Broken China, Walnut Stain, & Fired Brick
• Distress Ink: Festive Berries & Tattered Rose
• Distress Embossing Ink Pad
• a la mode clear embossing powder
• Prima Watercolor Confections: Decadent Pies
• My Minds Eye "Christmas On Market Street" Puffy Stickers
• Martha Stewart "Scallop Dot" edge punch & red twine
• Heidi Swapp Color Shine: Bronze
• Stickles "Joyful"
• Basic Grey Juniper Berry Embellishment Pack
• We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile