June Tag of 2013

I was happy when I got the full set of Distress Markers for Christmas and, to be perfectly honest, I haven't had much luck using them as blendable water color. That's why Tim Holtz's June tag (12 tags of 2013 - June) posed a good challenge. I feel like I finally had success using them on my tag for the month of June.

First I stamped my pear on 130 lb. watercolor paper using Jet Black Archival Ink. I applied several colors using my markers and then blended them with a fine water brush. It took a couple of attempts to get satisfactory blending. This attempt wasn't the one I ended up using since I overdid the text.

When I was happy with another version, I applied Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the roughed and torn edges and blended the ink with the water brush.

Next I prepared the tag itself. The formula was a mixture of misted Distress Ink, Distress Paint, and Distress Stain. I was really happy with how it came out, so I am sure that I will use this combo on further projects. After it dried I covered it with stamped images.

After adhering the pear to the tag with Glossy Accents I felt like my tag still needed a little something. I have a stockpile of die cut, stamped, and colored tickets which seemed to do the trick.

The finishing touches were attaching a sprocket and spinner as well as stained crinkle ribbon. What a fun project to lighten a dreary June day!

Recent Cards

Things have been pretty busy here with our family in from Boston, so I haven't been spending much time crafting. Here are a few cards that I managed to finish just before they arrived.

The first is a congratulations card for a baby boy. I used my favorite "boy" colors and papers that I had originally purchased for a baby shower (also for a baby Nolan).

I love my daughter-in-law and wanted to make her a special card for her birthday. I was inspired by a similar card that I saw online that used "inches" stamps (each image is one square inch) and white embossing. I created the background color for the squares using Distress Stains, then stamped and embossed several full size collage stamps. To create my faux inches, I punched out sections of the images with a one-inch square punch. I added a stamped pear on the background paper of the card since it was rather bare without it. I added a tiny Eiffel Tower charm to the ribbon.

This last card is an anniversary card for my son and his wife. It was inspired by a box lid decoration I saw at candycreates.blogspot.com. Her work is outstanding, and the dragonfly she created using fantasy film is breathtaking! I had the Tim Holtz dragonfly stamp already and didn't want to invest in the film (a bit pricey and I didn't want a lengthy wait had I ordered it),  so I experimented with some iridescent cellophane. I stamped the image using black archival ink on several sheets of cellophane that I had sandwiched between sheets of parchment paper and fused with a warm iron. I also followed her directions for creating the frame using the fleur de lis rectangular Spellbinder dies. Please check out her completed project because it is awesome!