Thursday 5 October 2017

Autumn ~ 'The Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness' ~ Stamps and Stencils ~ New Challenge

Hi everybody! It's my turn to host the challenge over on the Stamps and Stencils blog. I've chosen the theme of Autumn as I don't think we can let this beautiful season, pass us by without a celebration. There is a little catch, in that I'm asking you to play along by using a tag or tags as a substrate. If you hop over to the blog you'll find all the details of the challenge and have the opportunity to see the fabulous projects, created by our talented design team. I made my tag from a piece of corrugated cardboard. It measures around 25 x 12 cm which gave me plenty of room to play with. Here's how I started.......
I cut the tag shape with my guillotine, and  punched a hole in the top. I then glued a reinforcing circle, over the punched hole, this turned the humble piece of card into a bonafide tag. I tore off pieces of the top layer to reveal some areas of the corrugations and then, like many of my mixed media projects, I adhered torn pieces of book page, to the surface.
I then gave the tag a light coat of gesso and once dry, stenciled a flourish pattern on the smooth areas using modelling paste to add extra dimension.
Once this was dry, I had some fun applying paints and sprays to the surface. I used Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paints as they have a nice matte finish. After drying the paint with a heat tool, I sprayed on some Distress Spray colours  and then used my splatter brush to apply some gold acrylic paint.
The splatter brush is something of a revelation to me. I've had the brush for sometime and it wasn't till attending Tim Holtz's workshop the other week ( quick name drop there), that I learned how to use it properly. I'd been doing it all wrong! Here's a closeup.......
The next step was to cut out and colour some leaves and flowers. I used Tattered Florals and Tattered Leaves dies and also hand cut the fringed flowers. I coloured the leaves with a mixture of Distress Oxides and Distress Sprays, after they'd been cut. In order to make the fringed flowers, I coloured some strips of lightweight card, with Distress Sprays, dried with a heat tool, then made very close together 'snips' all the way along leaving  a border of about 1cm along the edge. I then used a quilling tool to  rolled the strip up tightly, with a touch of glue on the last couple of centimetres. I also die cut a clock face and gave it a rusty paint finish.
I attached all of the flower and leaf elements with a hot glue gun. This works for me as I find it holds dimensional embellishments in place instantly. I hope you've enjoyed this little walk through the making of my Autumn tag. If you'd like to join in with our challenge and have a little autumnal fun, hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog with this link, and feast your eyes on the inspiration you'll find there. Happy Crafting ! x    




7 comments:

  1. A stunning tag Toni, I love how you built up the layers and the autumnal colours are so rich and beautiful - a very elegant tag! Hugs, Anne xx

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  2. I'm going to have to make a corrugated tag right away now Toni! Woah, how incredible! I love that you have so much earthy brown in your fall color mix and your incredible array of collage elements. An absolute stunner! Hugs, Autumn

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  3. Yep, love the corrugated tag idea...I've been using it for something else recently...wait and see...it's a great substrate! The colours are so earthy as Autumn said and you've included some wonderful embellies but the background with flourish I just adore. Gorgeous tag Toni and thanks for a brilliant challenge theme. Hugs ruth xx

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  4. Absolutely beautiful - the corrugated tag provides a weathered and worn look which works perfectly for the season, and I love how the earthy colours go all the way from the fading green to rich burnished orange. Your flower is stunning at the heart of it all.
    Alison x

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  5. stunningly beautiful tag Toni and thanks so much for this theme - I so rarely do tags these days - its been bliss! Big hugs rachel xx

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  6. Beautiful tag Toni, love the corrugated cardboard and of course the gorgeous Autumnal colours ! Sue C x

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  7. Oh my Toni, what a gorgeous tag! I love all the texture, layers and your attention to details! Stunning! Thanks for the inspiration!

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