Twelve Tags of 2016 ~ Technique Remix ~ February

Hi everybody ! well we are nearing the end of the month and I thought it was about time I posted my February tag for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2016 challenge. I'm loving Tim's Technique Remix ! This month he has chosen to mix it up with Monoprinting and Embossed Texture Paste. You can see his gorgeous tag by following this link. I've stuck fairly closely to Tim's original idea and just used a few substitutes here and there. I've also used a rather long quote from a W B Yeats poem, a particular favourite of mine. It fits the story I have in my head, for the woman in the Photo Booth picture. I feel that she just has that look of vulnerability  in her eyes.

 Once again a great fun tag to make and a chance to brush up on some technique skills, Keep 'em coming Tim ! x

Splatter, Spritz, Smoosh ! ~ New Challenge for Stamps and Stencils

Hi everybody! It's time for our new February challenge over at Stamps and Stencils. Sue is our very talented host this month and she has chosen 'Splatter,Spritz, Smoosh'. I'm sure you'll agree, that this is a great challenge theme. After all, what piece of self respecting, mixed media work doesn't contain a bit of splatter,a touch of spritz and a swipe of smoosh ! I think there's a lot of fun to be had with this theme. I certainly enjoyed making this vintage style Valentine, accordion card. .

 I started off with a piece of card measuring 16 x 4 and scored it at 4 inch intervals. I then dabbed Distress inks on my craft mat, 'spritzed' them with water and 'smooshed' the card through the colours. This great technique from Tim Holtz, is the foundation of so many of my paper craft projects. I blended a little Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink around the edges to add to the vintage look.I rather cheated with my 'splatters' and used a set of Indigo Blu stamps, called Ink Splats. They're very cute and just the right size for this project.I used a few bottle tops to create some additional circles, and stamped the text using Tim's Ledger Script Stamps.....such a useful set of stamps. I made a little tag and a small envelope with the same technique, minus the text stamping.

The rather wistful image of woman, was something I downloaded from the internet. I made the heart with a piece of embossed, aluminium foiled, card. I 'splattered' some Distress Paint on the surface, left it to dry and then lightly sanded the surface.

The butterfly was made in the same way. Once all the elements were adhered to the card I tucked  a little stamp ticket into the envelope and a tag into the heart. A couple of finishing touches, such as the mother of pearl button on the heart and the game spinner on the butterfly and my valentine card is almost good to go. The back of the card is also rather splattered but not in a pretty way, so I shall cover it with some nice printed paper. Hmmmm! now who to send it to? I suppose after nearly 36 years of marriage, it better be my DH !
If you fancy having a bit of a Splatter, Spritz and Smoosh, hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog where you'll see some fantastic work from the rest of the design team, as well as all the challenge details. Just remember to use some stamping or stenciling or both ! We'd love to see what you create !