Happy 6th Anniversary

This page celebrates T Stands for Tuesday’s 6^th Anniversary, where our wonderful hosts Bleubeard and Elizabeth ask us to share a drink related post each week. It’s so much fun meeting up with the T Gang each Tuesday, thanks so much to everyone for making it such a friendly and happy place!

My page was also created to join in our Colours of the Rainbow challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too where you still have until next Tuesday to join in the fun, it would be lovely to see you there!

I started by covering the page with Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain and then stencilling multi-coloured teacups using Distress Ink and a handmade stencil that the lovely Eileen aka The Artful Crafter sent me last year – the design and detail of the teacup is amazing, thank you so much dear friend! The Distress Inks that I used were Festive Berries, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves and Fired Brick. Next I used some Kaisercraft paper and stickers to add: some stripes of colourful patterned paper which I outlined with a black marker pen; die cut teacups using a die from Crafter’s Companion and my Big Shot machine, they are outlined with a black Faber-Castell marker and held in place with some little brads and I also numbered them 1-6, using Tim Holtz Label Letters, to depict each year of T stands for Tuesday 6^th Anniversary; the wording which reads “friends are the sunshine of life” as I am very blessed to have made such wonderful friends and also “These are T Days” which I cut to make the word “T Day” as it originally said “These are the days”. The black teapot, teacups and saucers are outline stickers which I coloured black using a Sharpie marker. To finish, I added some white hearts so they looked like steam floating up from the teacups; they are outline stickers which I outlined with a black marker pen so they stood out more.

My homemade raspberry gin is just the thing to celebrate the 6^th Anniversary at T Stands for Tuesday; our friends told us about making it, all you need to do is soak raspberries (or any fruit of you choice) with some sugar and gin in a Kilner Jar and place it in a dark place for 4 weeks (grin!). It tastes amazing, so delicious! I serve it with either fizzy lime/lemon or fizzy mango drink – yum! Wishing you all a Happy 6th Anniversary this T Day!

Challenges 

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all celebrating T Day’s 6^th Anniversary (grin!).

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Add A Number challenge with the numbers that I added to the teacups.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
• Teacup Stencil handmade by the lovely Eileen aka The Artful Crafter; you can see all the goodies that she sent me here – thanks very much, so kind!
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Festive Berries, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Seedless Preserves, Fired Brick)
• Kaisercraft Design Paper (Fiesta! Collection – Siesta P1859, Fly Free Collection – Confidante P1896)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fiesta! SS284)
• Handwriting Pen (Black)
• Crafter’s Companion Die Set (Vintage Tea Party – Toppling Teacups S-VTP-MD-TOPT)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Craft Sensations (Brads CRO550/A)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Label Letters #TH93072)
• Docrafts Anita’s Outline Stickers (Alice in Wonderland ANT810116)
• Craftime Designer Vinyls (B/W Boy & Girl PBDV02)
• Pritt Stick
• Stix2 double-sided tape

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Precious Metal at A Vintage Journey

Our new challenge over at A Vintage Journey being hosted by Amanda is Precious Metal who has kindly provided the following description:

“For this challenge we would like to see some kind of precious metal feature in your project. Think gold, silver, brass, copper, aluminium, steel….. It could be in the form of embellishments, cardstock, paint, gilding wax, foil, gold leaf or rub ons. Just remember to ensure that you create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk.”

For Amanda’s wonderful Precious Metal challenge I created an art journal page using copper and silver embossing powders. I had lots of fun heat embossing them onto stencilled modelling paste, stamped letters, chipboard pieces and a die cut butterfly – I hope you like it!

I started by stencilling modelling paste using a Specimens stencil and then covered it with copper and silver embossing powder, heating it with a heat gun until it became glossy and 3D. To create more of a grungy look I lightly dragged a Watermark stamp pad over the page and then I covered it using the copper and silver embossing powders heating the powder with my heat gun again. Then to colour the background I applied Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain and also Forest Moss and Twisted Citron Distress Ink which I diluted with water by stamping the ink pad on a blending mat, applying water and applying it to the page using a paint brush.

Next I applied some rub-on transfers to the page so that the images were broken to look like thoughts swirling around the page; they are Special Delivery transfers from Tim Holtz. I stamped some letters from a Tim Holtz stamp set onto tissue paper using black Archival Ink and heat embossed it with copper embossing powder. I cut the letters out and stuck them onto the page using gel medium and then splattered the page using black and white acrylic paint.

I used the copper and silver embossing powder again to edge the wording “Thoughts and Theories” which is a Chip Quote from Tim Holtz, to cover some wooden circular chipboard pieces and also to add silver to a die cut butterfly from the Tim Holtz Botanical collection.

The chipboard pieces are stuck to the page using Ranger Glossy Accents and to finish I stuck the butterfly in place using double-sided tape to stick down the centre and then double-sided foam tape to elevate its wings.

My art journal page reminds me of one of the signs that hangs in my craft room. There are lots of similarities to my page with the green colour palette, circular swirls, similar meaning of the words and pretty copper bell; it’s also made of metal and is very precious to me as I bought it for my craft room when we visited our dear friends in Maine, America last year (grin!).

For more inspiration, please pop over to see the amazing creations from my fellow Creative Guides over at A Vintage Journey too, it would be lovely to see you there!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Chris from pearshapedcrafting and her We’re all/going challenge over at Art Journal Journey as we’re all art journaling.

I’m joining in the Make Your Own Background challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge too.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• TCW 6×6” Stencil (Mini Specimens TCW4545)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Copper, Silver)
• Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Forest Moss, Twisted Citron)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Remnant Rubs (Special Delivery #TH93188)
• Leftover Letraset Rub-ons
• White Tissue Paper
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous (Documented CMS226)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Boozybear Chipboard pieces
• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Quote Chips #TH93563)
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Layers (Botancial #TH93554)
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Believe in yourself

I was so inspired by Astrid’s Tissue Paper challenge over at A Vintage Journey that I created another page; there is still another week to join in the fun, it would be lovely to see you there!

This time I collaged tissue paper to create the background and distressed it, then added a beautiful butterfly and some motivational wording; I hope you like the shabby chic style that resulted.

The background is made of pieces of tissue Patch Paper collaged together using a glue stick and matte gel medium. Once dry I applied some white gesso over the top using a palette knife and then created a worn look by adding: some Coconut and Caramel Faber-Castell Gelatos smudging the colour with my finger; Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush marker which again I smudged using my finger; and finally some Frayed Burlap Distress Ink which I applied using a blending tool. Then I stamped a Tiny Dot stamp from Kaisercraft using the Frayed Burlap ink and also some black Archival Ink. For the butterfly, I chose a large pre-cut butterfly and heat embossed the edges of its wings and also its body using Versamark ink and black embossing powder. It is attached to the page using double-sided tape in the centre and also double-sided foam tape for the wings. The words are Small Talk stickers from Tim Holtz and read “you are capable of becoming more than you realise”, “believe in yourself” and “with brave wings she flies”. They are all outlined using a black marker and using the same marker I drew two antennae on the butterfly which finished the page.

This page seemed to create itself and I think I was channelling butterflies as our friend that we walk with every week went on a Butterfly Tour last week, around the UK, looking for rare butterflies. When she was telling us about the Large Blue it reminded me of my page and as she is an exceptional photographer she kindly shared her photos with me which I’m pleased to be able to share with you too. This is a Large Blue which became extinct in 1979 and is being reintroduced to some areas of the UK.

Here’s some more of her amazing photos, this one is a Painted Lady …

… this is a Heath Fritillary …

… then there is a Marbled White …

… and finally a Brown Argus – I so enjoyed looking at the photos as I haven’t seen many of these butterflies before, so thanks very much K (grin!).

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Halle of Halle’s Hobbies and her Words to live by challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my “Believe in yourself” page.

I’m joining in the It’s a Bugs Life challenge over at Country View Challenges with my butterfly art journal page.

I’m happy to join the Spots and/or Stripes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the dots I added to the background of my page.

I’m also joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge too.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Poundworld (Patch Paper DS9454)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Faber-Castell Gelato (Coconut, Caramel)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233, Black 199)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Frayed Burlap)
• Kaisercraft clear stamp (Tiny Dot CS360)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.08mm)
• Tsukineko Versafine Ink (Onyx Black)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Black PMA4021006)
• The Works (Make your own 3D Butterflies)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Pritt SticK
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Stix2 double-sided tape
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Material Girl

At Try it on Tuesday we have a new challenge theme every two weeks and we would love for you to join us. Today we are launching our Material Girl challenge where you are asked to create all things feminine, maybe using fabrics, lace or like me faux stitching and dressmaking images.

There are some beautiful inspirational creations from my Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday so please pop over and take a look, and you’ll also find a full set of guidelines on how to join in the fun too (grin!).

I started by painting the background with watered down Scattered Straw Distress Ink and once dry stamping it with a set of Urban Arts stamps using black Archival Ink, the stamps included: lace stitched flowers; a dressmaking heart pin; a safety pin; a tape measure; and a tiny flower motif. Next I cut strips of a pretty floral design paper and some button embossed card. I arranged them on the left-hand side of the page using a glue stick and then I edged them with some zig-zag stitched stickers. I used the same floral paper to stamp the tape measures and fussy cut them out. They are stuck over the tape measure images that I stamped on the background. I then added an oval image of a mannequin which was a topper from the same set as the floral paper; the outside oval is stuck down using a glue stick and the central piece using double-sided foam tape. I attached a piece of satin ribbon to the tag which is a sticker and reads “Happy girls are the prettiest”. To finish, I added some yellow pearl gemstones to the flower motifs on the background and to the bow on the mannequin.

We have been having some hot sunny days of late so as T Stands for Tuesday I thought we could cool down by drinking a pineapple frappe or a chocolate milkshake – Happy T Day everyone!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Halle of Halle’s Hobbies and her Words to live by challenge over at Art Journal Journey as being happy is a wonderful way to live although I’m not sure you’ll be the prettiest as a result (grin!).

I’m happy to join the Spots and/or Stripes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the spots from the embossed buttons and gems and the stripes of design paper and measuring tapes.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Scattered Straw)
• Docrafts Papermania Urban Stamps (Craft Coollection – Pastels PMA907223)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Create & Craft Paper Craft Topper & Background Paper (Birthday Celebrations)
• Button Embossed Cardstock (Lavender, Yellow)
• Sandylion Sticker Designs Kelly Panacci Scrapbook Collection (Stitches & Borders KSCB102)
• Little Yellow Bicycle Cardstock Stickers (Fresh Verse PD-140)
• Satin Ribbon
• Trimcraft (Adhesive Pearls SCDOT056)
• Pritt Stick
• The Range double-sided foam tape

Man’s World

Time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday and for the next two weeks our challenge is It’s a Man’s World. So be masculine, it could be something for Father’s Day or for a male birthday.

As I always find it hard to get started on masculine designs, I ended up getting all my appropriate crafting goodies out for inspiration and once I got started I really enjoyed creating this page; it all came together quickly and I love the grungy vintage look and I hope you do too!

I started by ripping some decoupage paper into large pieces and sticking it to the page using a glue stick. Then I stencilled the metal plate effect using Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and a Dinky Stencil from That’s Crafty! I splattered the page with water to smudge the Hickory Smoke ink using a piece of kitchen towel giving it a grungy look. Next I smooshed and splattered some Rusty Hinge Distress Ink over the page and I edged the pieces of decoupage paper using a Dark Sepia Faber-Castell Big Brush marker. To finish the background, I added three rub-on transfers from Royal & Langnickel which I outlined using a black Uni Pin marker so the edges looked worn and then I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint. Next I layered all the different paper elements together having edged them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink using a blending tool and also a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker before I stuck them onto the page. They included: letters creating the “mans world” wording, some numbered tiles and shields which are Crowded Attic Salvage Stickers by Tim Holtz; some pieces of a book page which I distressed with scissors along the edge; a vintage car stamp from Tim Holtz which I stamped onto some American Crafts paper and also some recycled Kraft paper using black Archival Ink and then fussy cut out; a clock which was stamped using a Kaisercraft stamp and black Archival Ink onto the same American Crafts paper then cut out; a clock which I fussy cut from an old magazine; two Victorian style brown tags; two wooden effect tags from Docrafts that read “Brilliant” and “The World’s Greatest”, and I emphasised their design using a black Uni Pin marker; a ruler which I cut into two pieces and finally two round discs, which read “in these moments time stood still” and “A lifetime of memories” all of which are fussy cut from a Kaisercraft paper sheet. To finish, I added some brown metal brads to all of the tags and splattered black DecoArt acrylic paint over everything.

For more inspiration please check out the fabulous creations from my Design Teamies over at Try it on Tuesday.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I’m sharing our pie and a pint that we enjoyed whilst sitting in the sunshine at a local pub. We only had one day of sunshine last week and I’m now wishing for more with all the grey cloudy and rainy days we have had of late, although I’m sure the flowers in my garden are grateful (grin!). If you are wondering, our pie is meat and potato which is much loved in the North of England, you probably won’t find this pie in the South of England. It’s served hot and goes very nicely with a pint of beer too – cheers and Happy T day!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Halle of Halle’s Hobbies  and her Words to live by challenge over at Art Journal Journey.

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Masculine challenge with my Man’s World page.

I’m pleased join in the fun over at Creative Artiste and their June #50 – Anything Mixed Media Goes challenge with my mixed media art journal page (which included decoupage paper, ink, markers, stickers, etc).

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Trimcraft Santora London (Decoupage Papers SBDEC043)
• That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencil (Metal Grid Background – TC041)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Hickory Smoke, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Dark Sepia 175 B, Black 199)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Create-A-Collage (Men’s Accessories #ROY-853)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Salvage Stickers (Crowded Attic #TH92898)
• Book page
• Tim Holtz {Components} Collection Stamper Anonymous (COM013 CAR)
• American Crafts Papers (DIY Store 366665)
• Recycled Kraft Notepaper
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Vintage- Believe CS832)
• Old Magazine
• The Works (Victorian Style Embellishments)
• Docrafts A5 Die-Cut Toppers & Sentiments (Mr. Smith’s Workshop PMA157261)
• Kaisercraft Glossy Paper Story Book Collection (Trinkets PS445)
• Craft Sensations (Brads CRO550/A)
• Pritt Stick

Tissue Paper at A Vintage Journey

Today sees the start of a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey and I had lots of fun art journaling for Astrid’s fabulous Tissue Paper challenge.

Here’s what we would like you to do this month:
“As the title suggests, use tissue paper. There are many different ways you can incorporate tissue paper into your project – create texture by scrunching it up, stain it, paint it, wax it, stamp on it, emboss on it. You could use cheap tissue from the supermarket, recycle gift wrapping tissue, or even use old dressmaking patterns. Just remember to create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk”.

Inspired by a beautiful display of flowers in my garden, I used a couple of new techniques with tissue paper to create the background as well as all the foliage and flowers on this page – I hope you like it!

For my tissue paper background, I started by stamping Mowed Lawn, Chipped Sapphire, Twisted Citron and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks onto a blending mat, spritzing with water.

I pressed the tissue paper onto the blending mat and spritzed with more water to disperse the colour. Then I lifted the tissue paper off the blending mat and dried it with my heat gun.

Next I scrunched the tissue paper into a ball, unravelled it so it still retained most of the creases, stuck it onto my art journal page using a UHU Stic and trimmed off the excess tissue to fit the page. Then I brushed a Watermark stamp pad over the raised creases on the page, applied silver embossing powder and heated it using a heat gun; this was a fun new technique for me.

I love the veins of silver that resulted. I chose the silver as it depicts the backdrop of silver-leafed plants that are in the flower bed in my garden.

Next I selected tissue papers from my craft stash, I was actually surprised by how many different coloured tissue papers I had as they are all recycled from gift wrapping (grin!). I cut the green and beige tissue paper into strips to create some of the foliage and also layered some tissue papers 5 pieces thick and die cut it using Wildflower Stems Tim Holtz thinlets and my Big Shot machine to create more foliage and flowers for my page.

I gradually built up the foliage first by layering the strips of light green, dark green and beige tissue paper and the cream die cut tissue paper pieces onto the page using matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry I outlined the strips with a black fine line marker and then coloured them using Sea Green, Evergreen and Dessert Spectrum Aqua markers. For the cream pieces I outlined them with a white gel pen and shaded them using a Cold Grey Big Brush marker.

To create my pink flowers, I used a flower die cut and turned it upside down so they were the same shape as the ones in my garden. To create different looking flowers and a 3D effect, I also cut the die cut flower shape into individual petals so that I could build up the layers on each flower.

The yellow centres are created using rolled up tissue paper which I cut into small pieces using scissors and stuck in place like all these tissue elements using matte gel medium, when dry I added more detail using a black fine line marker and white gel pen. I also built up layers of the die cut green tissue paper for their stems and leaves and once the gel medium was dry, I outlined everything using a black fine line marker and added more detail to the leaves with this marker too. As the flowers in my garden are so bold and beautiful, I added the words “Live your life out loud” which is a Kaisercraft sticker edged with the Cold Grey Big Brush marker; this finished the page.

As some of you may be aware we replanted our flower beds last year, so we have lots of new flowers in our garden. These bright pink Tanacetum Coccineum flowers have grown beautifully this year and are definitely a favourite of mine so I wanted to capture their beauty on my art journal page (grin!).

Here’s a view of the flowers with the silver-leafed plants in the background which inspired the silver embossing powder background of my page (double grin!).

There’s lots more inspiration at A Vintage Journey, so please pop over to see the amazing creations made by my fellow Creative Guides.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Halle of Halle’s Hobbies and her Words to live by challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the words that I included on my page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday, their challenge is Summer Vibes! So I’m joining this challenge too my summery flowered art journal page.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Chipped Sapphire, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers)
• Recycled tissue paper (White, Light Green, Dark Green, Beige, Cream, Pink, Yellow)
• Tsukineko Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Silver)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflower Stems #2 661808)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Sea Green, Evergreen, Dessert)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Kaiercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• UHU Stic
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Ranger Heat Gun

New Tag Journal – Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

I’m thrilled and honoured to be part of the Creative Guide team at A Vintage Journey and I’d like to thank the wonderful team for having me.

Today at A Vintage Journey it is Tag Friday, which takes place only when there is a fifth Friday in the month. I had so much fun joining in this challenge as Tag Friday is all about creating something you love so there is no particular theme, it’s time to play, experiment and have fun – it would be great to see you there!

As some of you will be aware, I love art journaling, so I thought I would start a “Tag Journal” which will be made up of double-sided tags. Here’s my first one which I designed to capture my new adventure at A Vintage Journey; both sides are vintage shabby in style, on one side is the front cover of my new Tag Journal which reminds me to embrace the journey and on the other is a tribute to the support and kindness shown by my fellow Creative Guides who have been so welcoming and helpful – thank you!

To start, I used a large Tim Holtz Poster Card to create the tag by cutting off two of the corners to make a tag shape and punching a hole using my new Crop-A-Dile machine, which is so cool to use (grin!). I painted transparent gesso over both sides of the tag to make it stronger and give a good foundation for the inks and acrylic paints that I planned to apply. When dry, I applied Forest Moss and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks, to one side of the tag, by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the tag. The flowers and leaves are fussy cut from design paper and are stuck on top of some white acrylic paint to make them stand out more. I also added Gold Shellac embossing power to edge the tag and splattered the tag with white and black acrylic paint to create a grungy look.

The dragonfly is stamped onto tissue paper with the Gold Shellac embossing power and is stuck in place, like all of the elements, using matte gel medium; I was careful not to apply any of the gel medium over the embossing powder so it didn’t loose its shine. When dry I outlined the dragonfly with a black fine line marker.

The smaller “Tag Journal” tags were created using: a recycled clothing tag which I covered with white paper to conceal the designer name and edged with the Gold Shellac embossing powder; some green card which I splattered with the Pine Needles and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink, stamped with the words “Tag Journal” using black Archival Ink and then punched using my Crop-A-Dile machine; some pretty metal and gemstone embellishments recycled from an old necklace; and a piece of white thread which attached everything together. The thread was secured using a “figure of eight” knot as it looks more decorative, and a turquoise brad which I covered in the embossing powder; you’ll notice I wasn’t careful in how I applied the embossing powder as I wanted a grungy look.

To finish, I added a piece of lace to the bottom of the tag and a Small Talk sticker from Tim Holtz which I edged with a Cold Grey Big Brush marker, it reads “embrace the journey”; I thought these words were prefect for my new creative journey here at A Vintage Journey.

On the other side of the tag, I started by adding some white acrylic paint along the edges and when dry I covered the paint with Tea Dye Distress Ink using a blending tool and also the Cold Grey marker smudging the ink with my finger. Next I prepared the different elements to stick onto the tag, this included: a piece of design paper to add a pocket at the bottom of the tag which I reinforced with a piece of thin white card and edged along the top opening with the Tea Dye ink and Cold marker; a ripped piece of the same paper which is also edged with the Tea Dye ink and Cold Grey marker; a piece of striped paper edged with the Cold Grey marker; and flowers which I stamped onto tissue paper using black Archival Ink.

After stamping some postage marks using black Archival Ink over the background, I layered all of the elements onto the tag using matte gel medium. I covered up the back of the brad with a postage stamp from my hubby’s childhood collection (he kindly gave me his stamp collection to use in my artwork) and then I edged the tag using the Cold Grey marker and a black Uni Pin marker. I also selected a pretty vintage designed card from Tim Holtz to sit in the tag pocket.

As a tribute to the warm welcome, support and kindness shown by the Creative Guides at A Vintage Journey I included the words “together is the best place to be” and made the card that sits in the tag pocket reversible. On the reverse of the card, I added A Vintage Journey Creative Guide badge which I printed, stuck in place and distressed using the Tea Dye ink and the Cold Grey marker again. Then I added a thin piece of lace along the bottom edge so it blended into the lace that I had attached to the other side.

To finish, I added an eyelet with my Crop-A-Dile machine which reinforced the hole as I’m using a book ring to secure all of my Tag Journal tags together when they are finished. Like today, I plan to share my double-sided tag designs with you on Tag Fridays along with the process and materials that I used.

I had so much fun creating my first tag for Tag Friday and for more inspiration, please pop over to A Vintage Journey where you’ll find some amazing tags created by my fellow Creative Guides. I hope you are inspired to join us as I’m so looking forward to seeing your tags and being inspired by your designs too!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m joining the Things with Wings challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the dragonfly that I included on my tag.

I’m pleased to join in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Anything Goes challenge with my double-sided tag.

I’m also joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps too.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this double-sided tag:

• Tim Holtz idea-ology (Pocket Cards #TH93208)
• Pébéo Transparent Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Forest Moss, Peacock Feathers, Tea Dye)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Tsukineko Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Gold Shellac)
• Ranger Heat Gun
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Craft Sensations Design Pad (Authentic Vintage CRO730/R, Vintage Romance 154897)
• Prima Marketing Inc. Clear Stamps (Rossi Belle 587499)
• Eco Green Crafts Recycled Rubber Stamps (Petal Party #04309)
• Recycled white tissue paper
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Recycled clothing tag, white paper and green card
• Dovecraft Essentials Alphabet Stamp Set (WDN ALPHA STMP DCVW0050)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Recycled metal embellishments from old necklace
• White thread
• Craft Sensations (Brads CRO550/A)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Stickers (Small Talk #TH93193)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• The Works (Lace Trim)
• Recycled( white cardstock, paper, tissue paper_
• UK Postage Stamp – 1956 Green Watermark 165 St Edwards Crown (E2R)
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Layers (Botanical #TH93554)
• A Vintage Journey Badge – computer printed
• We R Memory Keepers Tools (Crop-A-Dile Hole Punch and Eyelet Setter, Standard Eyelets)
• Woodware Craft Collection (Metallic Book Rings – 38mm Silver)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic