IT’s HaRD BeING Me - Tag

 Hi,

sorry for the lack of a post for a few days. I had a double eye op last weekend which put me out of action for a couple of days.   BUT all is fine and dandy now and I could’t wait to test my new 20/20 vision by playing in my craft room today.

 I decided to have a bit of fun and create this tag.....

Here's a quick running through of the process for you: 

Using a size #8 Ranger Manilla tag, and Distress Inks (Squeezed Lemonade & Peeled Paint) I set to, to make the background.  Al la Tim Holtz's wrinkle-free distress technique, I smooched the Distress inks onto a craft sheet, spritzed it with water to create lovely fine droplets of inky deliciousness before swooshing (a technical term!) my water-misted tag through the ink. After drying with a heat tool, I randomly dabbed the tag back into the puddles of the ink that were left on the craft sheet and then dried it once again with the heat tool.

Using my hand I flicked and splattered good ol’ plain water onto the now inked tag, left it for a second or ten before dabbing it with a dry cloth to remove some of the ink from the tag. And this was the gorgeousness that was left.......

The same Distress Inks were used again, but this time through a stencil to create more interest to the background. The stencil I used was a Ranger Tim Holtz Collection stencil that was a freebie at one of Tim's workshops. Unfortunately it's not available over the counter.  I also added some tiny splashes and a few circles with watered down, white acrylic paint and random doodling with a white Signo pen.

My focal image was Stampotique's Prom Queen stamp, which I coloured using Stamping Up watercolour pencils. I applied Glossy Accents to her bodice, leggings, boots and hair scrunches, and Stamping Up Dazzling Detail to add a bit of glitz to the lace at the bottom of  her leggings and also to the spots on her skirt. The heart she holds is one left over from another project. It's just a paper heart, coloured and then topped with Glossy Accents.  Finally an outline using a charcoal pencil gently smudged with a stubby helped to make her  pop from the background.

Here you can see a little more of the stencilling, the doodle outline and a touch of highlighting with the Signo.

The label was computer generated onto white card, edged in Distress Ink (Peeled Paint) before being backed onto black card and stuck haphazardly with Glossy Accents to the tag. It’s a fun throw-away line we use in our house, so I thought it would be fun to use it on my tag.

To accentuate the colour of the skirt I added a couple of blue brads to the bottom right corner of the tag and found a small length of blue ribbon in my stash that was a purrrrfect match. The final touch was a little wash tape to ground my Prom Queen and again add a little more interest to the background.

Those of you who have read my posts know that I back my tags with black card and attach a tiny date tag to the ribbon. with a jump ring.  This one was no exception.

She’s quirky and awkward but I love this Stampotique image. She is one of my Stampotique favourites and I think she was a good choice for this fun tag. I’m really pleased how it turned out and it was such a relaxing couple of hours colouring her in with watercolour pencils and pulling this tag together. Craft room time really is a peaceful oasis for me, my (very) happy place.

Thanks so much for popping by and please feel free to leave me a comment.

Carol. xx