Tags, Vol. 2

After I had finished with so many of the tags that had designs cut into them, I was anxious to try a new technique I had seen in a book. Just so you know, I think Tim Holtz is a creative genius and if you want loads of technique inspiration, get his book: A Compendium of Curiosities. 

Starting with a tag, stamp an image with a watermark ink and emboss with clear embossing powder.

Next, using as many ink color combinations as you desire, begin rubbing and blending ink onto the tag. Notice how the embossed image repels the ink, just like in a classroom art project!

Once the tag is inked, iron the tag with paper over the top to absorb the embossing medium.

This leaves the stamped image so the color of the paper shows through the design. It is really beautiful.

For even more design details, I added more stamping & embossing over the images, though the embossing was a little trickier.

Like I said, refer to the book for complete instruction. This was a fun method to try out. When I got all finished, my daughter was quite impressed, "Mom! How'd you do that?!"

Makes a girl feel good :)

"After" Pictures... What I've Been Working On

 The little book turned out so cute I think! It will be used at a bridal shower for writing advice to the bride. I filled a few of the pages with some quotes about love and left empty pages for the guests to fill. This was the first time I had worked with a flap on the front cover, but it turned out great.

 I was in a bit of hurry when I took the pictures, so I have to apologize for them. I also forgot to take any close-ups of any pages. My son had to help me to hold the book open as there isn't much of substantial weight to hold the notebook open!

The paper I used was from parts of my old stash, I don't even know a brand, but it was an all black & white collection. To add the red, I sprayed some of the papers with alcohol ink. It added a nice touch as I was able to also spray the flowers, so they were an identical match! "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Thanks for visiting today!

What I'm Working On

It's not much, just a small project. I've been asked to make a small book for a bridal shower. The bride's colors are black, white & red. The book is a small notebook for advice for the bride.

Hopefully, I'll have pictures of the finished project next week!

Thanks for visiting today!

Tags

Last week I mentioned the Cricut blog and the tutorial video I watched for the banner idea. Well, in the middle of everything the gal mentions that instead of having scraps of paper left after cutting an image out with the Cricut, she simply cuts extra tags for use on gifts or whatever later.

I know. All this time I've considered myself to be pretty savvy on my paper scraps. But admittedly I still have lots of leftovers after certain projects, and how easy would it be to just slap a couple tags or label shapes into the negative space as I go?

Armed with this new revelation, I cleaned. no not inside my drawers or even in the scrap folder... I cleaned off just the top of my work table & salvaged a lot of paper.

Part 2 of this story is that one of the only reasons I hunted down the Picturesque cartridge is for the fantastic and elegant tags that are on it.  I've had the cartridge for a while, but haven't really played with it yet. Opportunity presented, see?!

As you can see, I made bunches and bunches. I have no idea when I will ever use all of these. And this post is not even close to all that I did make. I got a little carried away. On the plus side, now I have a tag for almost any occasion so now I'm free to procrastinate to my hearts content about the whole gift giving scenario!

Simple, but so pretty.

Like I said, these are just a few of what came from the scrap room! I'll post more tags periodically. It was just a great opportunity for me to try some new techniques, and once I got started, the ideas started to flow. It was quite an evolution by the time I was through!

Thanks for visiting today!

Disney banner

It's no secret. I LOVE Disneyland! Well, who doesn't? My in-laws, that's who. But that's not the point. The point is that we are 9 fabulously short days away from our California trip! Yay! To help liven the mood, keep it at the fore front of our everyday activities, and to otherwise announce it to the world I made a banner.

When the Cricut blog got up & running, there were some good ideas in th

e videos that I wanted to try. I really liked the plain papers I used, the silver embossing has an almost there effect that is kinda magical.

Then of course, the adorable Disney accents! I only have the one Disney Princess Cartridge, so I had to add the cute little Dopey to "boy" it up a little. I used bunches of gems to tie the whole thing together and a little glitter on the Crepe paper accents. The last flag of the banner is just for me...

If I don't get to meet Jack Sparrow, I will be very, very sad.

I welded a few images together to get the skull with crossed swords, and the sparrow is from the Indie Arts cartridge.

Thanks for visiting today!

A New Look

I decided that it was time for a makeover. Just tonight I discovered a whole other side of Blogger that I didn't know about! Without even asking or knowing it was possible, Blogger let me know that this site isn't entirely abandoned! Armed with that new tidbit, I think I'll revamp the blog to show what I'm working on, instead of catalog style. I do hope I don't blow the whole thing, you know, by never posting a single thing (me?!) So I'll stick with my goal of weekly. You gals who post a new card or something else fabulous every stinkin' day make me feel a tad inadequate!

It took me forever to decide on a new background, so please comment & let me know if this black & white motif is distracting. I loved it in theory, but then had a couple issues when the text got all over it!

Thanks for visiting my blog, by the way! I'm glad to be found & hope you see something inspiring. I always need new ideas, so if you have a great one, drop a hint! What fun we'll have!

Mehryn

This little board book was put together for a friend of mine. What a treasure for her daughter to have a book of herself to pack around! 14 pages, $50