Neil Walker Butterfly Tag by Gemma

It's the end of February already the mornings are starting to get nice and bright here, which always makes me feel better and we have a new challenge starting on the blog soon I am looking forward to seeing all the entries. 

I have a tag to share with you all today created using Distress Inks, a mask, and stamps from The Artistic Stamper.  

 Steps

1- Apply a thick layer of gel medium through a stencil on one corner of the tag, this will take a while to dry.

2- Apply a thinner scrapping of gel medium through the same mask in a small area on the opposite corner of the tag.

3- Spread three colours of Distress ink onto a glass mat, spritz with water and push the tag into the ink, dry between layers, 

4- Use a brush to help apply ink over the thick gel medium and continue layering until happy with the result.

5- Using a wet wipe or damp cloth remove the ink from the gel medium.

6- Using one of the inks from the first layer apply more ink through the same mask in two or three areas.

7- Stamp over the top of the tag with one or two different background stamps for added interest.

8- Stamp a focal image in the bottom corner and the top of the tag using archival ink. I have used a butterfly stamp designed by Neil Walker, ensure the image is overhanging the tag. 

9- Wipe off any ink from the gel medium.

xx Gemma xx

The Artistic Stamper Products

Neil Walker Butterfly Stamp

Calligraphic Mat 20

Harlequin Background Stamp

Harlequin Mask

Kiki stamp tag by Gemma

Hello Everyone

For my post today, I have created a very grungy tag with the fabulous Kiki stamp designed by Neil Walker. 

I ripped up some book paper, glassine paper and tin foil that I had run through an embossing folder, and glued them onto a plain manilla tag.

I then dragged some gesso over the top, leaving some patches bare. While the gesso was still wet I pressed some Finnabiar art ingredients texture powder into it.

I then mixed some espresso coloured acrylic paint with some Decoart tinting base, applying it over the tag using a palette knife. After running the heat gun over the top I stamped in places with calligraphy mat 11 using archival ink. I added some more espresso coloured paint and some texture powder, to the paint I had previously mixed. I added enough power to form a thick paste, which I spread through the new random dots mask.

Onto tissue paper I stamped Kiki and a few cogs from the Tick Tock stamp plate, once the ink was dry I went around each image with a water brush before tearing them out.

I glued these into place on the tag with gel medium, both underneath the tissue paper and on top to seal them.

I went around the tag with more espresso brown paint, and stamped some cogs over the top with ground espresso Distress Ink. To finish I stuck down some torn bits of washi tape and scribbled in places with a white paint pen.

Thank you for reading

Gemma (inkykitty)

Products used from The Artistic Stamper

Kiki (C) Neil Walker

Calligraphy Mat 11

Tick Tock Stamp Plate

Random Dots Mask

Manilla Tags

A Doodly Twosome

Hello all!  Alison (butterfly) here again, this time with a pair of tags which are not quite in my usual vein - though they are in some of my favourite colours!

I used the new Alphabet Soup by Neil Walker as my starting point.  I clear embossed the background onto a tag.

Then I sprayed lots of lovely Dylusions colour onto it, and dried it with a heat tool.  I love the squiggly doodly lettering.

The next step was to cut Umbrella Man with the Sizzix die (did I dream it, or did I read that he's been discontinued?  In any case, he's still available here at Artistic Stamper for now).

I hadn't really planned on making two tags, but as soon as I'd cut him, I realised I had the makings of a 'positive' and a 'negative' version.

For the backgrounds, I just blended on various Distress Ink colours from grass to sky and gave both tags a good old spritz and flick with some water.

The words are all from the fabulous Journalling Words #5 set.  I stamped them onto another inky tag I had lying around on the desk, in a combination of Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers, and clear embossed the result.

I cut them and inked the edges and mounted them on padded tape for a little pop of dimension.

I altered a couple of Muse Tokens with Distress Paint, then sanded back to the metal underneath.

As soon as I saw the silvery detailing, I wanted to echo it on the rest of the tags.

So I used some silver gilding wax to edge the words and the tags themselves.

I ended up adding quite a lot of silvery sheen to the embossed Alphabet Soup too because I really liked the look of it.

A couple of twirls of metal wire finish off the tags at the top.  It's just some more of the rescued wires from some spiral bound notebooks that were being thrown away... 'waste not, want not', as they say!

And that's pretty much that... I hope you like my doodly tags.

Thanks so much for stopping by - I always love to hear what you think.

Oh, and we'd also love it if you came along to play in our July challenge By the Seaside - can't wait to see your creations.  See you again soon.

Ingredients used

Artistic Stamper Stamps:  Neil Walker Alphabet Soup, Journalling Words #5
Sizzix Umbrella Man die
Dylusions Sprays - Polished Jade, After Midnight, Cut Grass
Distress Inks - Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Broken China, Faded Jeans, Gathered Twigs
Versamark Ink Pad
Clear Embossing Powder
Idea-ology Muse Tokens
Distress Paints - Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass
Manila Tags
Foam Pads
From my stash - gilding wax (but these are similar) and wire from a spiral bound notebook

Dappled and Drowsy

Hello all, Alison (butterfly) here from Words and Pictures, with another musically-inspired tag for you today.

Simon & Garfunkel fans may have already clocked the post title, and be humming along.  It's the 59th Bridge Street Song: "I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep"... those were the words running through my head as I was playing with this one, with light and shade playing across the leaves.

I started from what was basically a mop-up tag.  There's definitely paint involved, and some Dylusions sprays.  It also has some texture from being pressed against another tag while all the paint and ink was wet on the surface.

Over that, I started clear-embossing some of Katy Leitch's lovely Leaves, stamped in Versamark and heat-embossed with some Clear Detail powder.

That glossiness captures the sunlight and makes it twinkle and reflect at you as you move the tag around.

I also stamped some of the smaller leaves in Olive and Leaf Green Archival inks, building up the layers... like lying beneath a tree and looking up through the layers of branches above you.

By this point, the song was in full flow (well, at least those couple of lines going round and round incessantly!)...

... so there was no difficulty in choosing the words to go on the tag.

The torn edges give a lovely textured surface for inking.

For the background layer, I added some ink and stains to a piece of watercolour paper, and stamped some more of the leaves in Archival ink of various colours.

And the torn edges again absorb the ink really well, so you get a lovely intense colour around the border.

A little bit of Distress Stain-dyed seam binding and some curly white twine keep things simple at the top.

And I did lots of splattering - most of it Dylusions, as far as I remember (taking the top out and splattering using the end of the spray attachment).

I was just having fun dappling and splattering by this point, so I wasn't really paying much attention!

Hope you're getting to enjoy a few drowsy afternoons in dappled sunlight...

Don't forget to come and play in our June challenge: we'd like you to Colour It Red.  And if you're thinking I'm not setting a very good example with all these greens, hop by Words and Pictures tomorrow for some redder inspiration - yup, even I've been tempted into the red zone!

Thanks so much for dropping in, and I'll see you again soon.

Ingredients used:
Artistic Stamper Stamps: Katy Leitch - Leaves
Dylusions Sprays - White Linen, Dirty Martini, Calypso Teal, Cut Grass, Vibrant Turquoise, Chopped Pesto
Archival Inks - Olive, Leaf Green, Aquamarine, Fern
Versamark Ink Pad
Wow Clear Gloss Superfine embossing powder
Manila Tag
Seam binding
From my stash: white twine, watercolour paper, Hero Arts alphabet stamps

How to write a letter...

Hello all, Alison (butterfly) here with a romantic tag for you.  I've loved the Jean-Jacques Rousseau quote about how to write a love letter for years, so I was delighted when it appeared amongst the new Tim Holtz releases.  And who else but the Gibson Girls could possibly fit so well with those words?!

I started by adding Grunge Paste to a large tag through the Tim Holtz doily stencil.

Once that was dry, I painted over the whole tag and texture with gesso.

I hadn't at that point planned what I'd be stamping, so it was pure luck that the two women and the quote all fitted (just!) between the textured areas!

I have some Gibson Girls masks ready cut (from the very first time I used them) and stored with the stamp set so I grabbed those and my go-to stencil at the moment, the TH Latticework.  In the first image, she seems to be struggling slightly to free her mind to just write... maybe she's falling out of love?

I used Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks.  Because they're going over gesso, all the colours end up quite muted, but that was fine for me with this tag.  In this second image, I think she's just reading a love letter she's received, and is pausing to let the thoughts sink in... good or bad news?

I added postage accents using Carte Postale by Katy Leitch (formerly Katy Fox).  There are the stamps and postmarks...

... stamped in Cobalt Archival and mounted on padded tape.

And the lovely Carte Postale stamp itself...

... as well as these fabulous postal ephemera labels.

I altered an Idea-ology Muse Token with some paint and White Fire Treasure Gold.

And then there's the quote itself, in such delicate handwriting.

And I've got some blotches from Katy Leitch's Messy Art, stamped in Pumice Stone.  Ink blots, or perhaps tear drops?

There's a shimmer of White Fire across the doily texture and on the edges of all the embellishments.

I couldn't do a tag all about letter-writing without adding a couple of pen nibs, also gilded with the White Fire.

And the whole thing is topped off with some very feminine lacy ribbon tied with delicate twine.

I don't know.... I must have been having a girly day!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Do come and play along with this month's challenge In the Garden.  We'd love to see you there.  Happy Crafting all!

Ingredients:
Artistic Stamper stamps:  The Gibson Girls Plate #1; Katy Leitch sets - Carte Postale, Messy Art
Stampers Anonymous stamps: Random Quotes
Distress Inks: Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Pumice Stone
Archival Inks: Coffee, Cobalt
Tim Holtz Layering Stencils: Doily
Idea-ology Muse Token
Grunge Paste
Gesso
Twine
Size #10 Manila Tag
From my stash: Treasure Gold, lacy ribbon